September 3, 2008 – (Charleston, South Carolina)- The National Association For Continence (NAFC) applauds the Worldwide Fistula Fund's (WFF) recent groundbreaking ceremony celebrating construction of its Model Fistula Surgery and Training Center, in Danja, Niger.  Within just five years, the Center is expected to provide care for up to 2,500 women with fistulas, train 30 doctors from Niger and other African countries in fistula repair and develop model community-based programs to prevent prolonged obstructed labor—the major cause of fistula formation.   To achieve these milestones, WFF is currently implementing a development campaign to raise the $4.6 million required to build and operate the Center.

An obstetric fistula is an opening between the bladder and/or rectum and the vagina caused by prolonged, obstructed labor when the fetus will not fit through the mother’s birth canal.  In such cases labor may last for 5 days or more.  In over 90% of cases, the fetus dies from asphyxiation.  If the woman herself does not die from hemorrhage, infection, or a ruptured uterus, she is likely to survive only to be afflicted with a fistula which results from extensive tissue damage caused by the prolonged birth process.  The result is continuous leakage of urine which in turn produces disastrous consequences for the afflicted woman:  profound loss of self-esteem, abandonment by her husband and family, and ostracism from society.  These fistulas are curable in the large majority of cases through low-technology surgical repair, but facilities at which this surgery can be carried out are rare.

In Niger alone, tens of thousands of girls and women currently suffer from obstetric fistulas, and there are thousands of new cases each year.  The average woman in Niger gives birth to more than seven babies in her lifetime, but her life expectancy is only 44 years and her lifetime risk of dying from a pregnancy-related complication is as high as 1 in 7.  Throughout Africa and South Asia, experts estimate that as many as 3.5 million women suffer from this disastrous complication of childbirth.
The WFF Model Fistula Surgery and Training Center is being established in Danja, Niger, at the Centre de Santé et de Leprologie (CSL), a hospital which has been operated by Serving in Mission (SIM) and The Leprosy Mission for over 50 years.  Fistula surgery will begin in Danja in October 2008 after the present operating theater at CSL has been renovated.  Operations will begin in this facility until construction of the new specialist center has been completed.  Leadership for the WFF project is being provided by Drs. Lewis Wall and Steven Arrowsmith, who have published numerous journal articles on the obstetric fistula problem and who are known internationally for their fistula initiatives in Africa over the last 15 years.    

The project is being undertaken to achieve multiple objectives:  

• Treat women with fistulas free of charge,
• Facilitate the reintegration of fistula patients into local society,
• Reduce the incidence of new fistula patients by preventing prolonged obstructed labor,
• Train African medical professionals and
• Serve as a model that can be replicated and adapted in other African and Asian countries where obstetric fistulas continue to be a pressing maternal health problem.

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  About WFF:  The Worldwide Fistula Fund is a non-sectarian, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity registered in the State of Illinois.  WFF was founded in 1995 as the Worldwide Fund for Mothers Injured in Childbirth.  Organizers changed the name of the organization in 2003.   

  
  Lewis Wall, MD, is Founder, President, and Managing Director of the WFF.  He is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.  He also holds a joint appointment as Professor of Anthropology at Washington University.   He is a past member of the NAFC Board of Directors and former Treasurer.  In 2005, Dr. Wall was honored by NAFC as its Continence Care Champion from the American Urogynecology Society for his outstanding contributions in education, research, and clinical practice in the field.  For more information about WFF, visit http://www.worldwidefistulafund.org.
  

  Dr. Steven Arrowsmith, WFF’s Vice-President for International Program Development, is a urologist who practiced in Africa for many years, first at Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, where he established the fistula program there, and later at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, where he served as the Associate Medical Director of that facility for three years.  He serves as a consultant to Mercy Ships International, USAID, EngenderHealth, and numerous other international groups interested in eradicating obstetric fistulas.
  
  

  About NAFC:  The National Association For Continence is a national, private, not-for-profit 501 (c)3 corporation dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with bladder and bowel control problems, voiding dysfunction, nocturnal enuresis, and related pelvic floor disorders.  NAFC’s mission is one of public health education, collaboration with other organizations, and advocacy on behalf of patients.  Broadly funded by consumers, healthcare professionals, and industry, NAFC is the world’s largest and most prolific consumer education and advocacy organization devoted exclusively to this field.  NAFC is an active member of the International Continence Society and the World Federation for Incontinent Patients.  Founded in 1983 by Dr. Katherine Jeter as Help for Incontinent People, the organization has since changed its name and is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina.  For more information about NAFC, visit http://www.nafc.org.