Fistula Curable Through Provision Of Training To Midwives: Experts

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd May, 2022 ) :Fistula is a contagious but curable disease found in women and about two million women suffer from this contagious disease worldwide, which can be dealt with by providing training to midwives.

These views were expressed by Prof. Haq Nawaz, Prof. Dr. Masha Khan, Dr. Ashraf Khan and Provincial Coordinator of the Fistula Foundation, Ehsan, while talking to reporters here in Quetta on the occasion of the International Day of the Infectious Disease "Fistula".

They said that in order to highlight many diseases and social problems in developing countries around the world, the United Nations has organized International Day on various occasions to raise awareness among the people about the prevention of these diseases.

"The annual International Fistula Day on May 23 is also a part of this series, the main purpose of which is to change the lives of women with festival by finding and successfully treating them," they said adding that it was a disease that was not only preventable but could also be treated effectively. It was caused by the length of the maternity period and the urinary and sometimes due to the entrapment of the baby during pregnancy.

The doctors mentioned that every year thousands of women were cut off from society due to this disease and were forced to live a life of loneliness.

They further said that in this regard, the United Nations General Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution on November 21,2012 to mark May 23 as International Fistula Day around the world in order to raise awareness about maternal health worldwide.

The doctors said that about 4,000-5,000 women in Pakistan suffer from this disease every year mainly due to poverty, lack of education, unavailability of family planning facilities, lack of trained health workers and the lack of basic services at the regional level.

They said that there were a large number of such Fistula in Pakistan which are formed during surgery.

Pakistan National Forum on Women's Health has been providing free treatment to all such women across the country since 2005 with the support of UNFPA.

They said that 9 such centers have been set up across the country where these patients are not only treated free of cost but also given travel expenses so that they can reach these centers. These centers are located in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Multan, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Abbottabad and Islamabad.