LAHORE: An International Day to End Obstetric Fistula (IDEOF) will be observe d on May 23 (today) to highlight the sufferings of women and demand facilities and services to treat them.

The Pakistan National Forum on Women`s Health (PNFWH), an organisation established by the Pakistan Medical Association, said that fistula occurs to women who experience longer duration of pregnancy and cause serious complications, if left untreated.

Dr Tayyaba Majeed and Dr Nayyar Sultana said the disease becomes fatal to unborn babies as approximately 90 per cent of such cases end in stillbirth. They said this year the IDEOF was being observed based on a theme `End Fistula Now: Invest in Quality Healthcare, Empower Communities`.

Dr Tayyaba said 5,000 women and girls were still living with fistula in Pakistan and they neededto be provided access to safe holistic fistula treatment (surgical repair and social reintegration) as a key strategy for eliminating it. She said the good news was that `fistula is now not only treatable but preventable` She said `Ending Fistula by 2030`, a target set by the United Nations under SDGs, required a paradigm shift in the thinking of governments and healthcare providers to invest more and improve the quality of care for maternal health, fistula prevention, and treatment.

She highlighted the key role of communities in addressing social, cultural, political, and economic determinants that impact maternal health and sexual reproductive health, and reproductive rights and contribute to the occurrence of obstetricfistula.

Dr Tayyaba said obstetric fistula was a condition causing added suffering and isolation to at least twomillion poor and marginalised women and girls worldwide.

Recognising the gravity of the challenge and to give importance to this miserable condition, she said the UN was looking for a sustainable scale-up of quality treatment and healthcare services including the availability of adequate numbers of trained, competent fistula surgeons and midwives to significantly reduce maternal and newborn mortality and to eradicate obstetric fistula.

Dr Nayyar Sultana said fistula could be prevented when women get timely maternity care through skilled birth attendance or midwifery care or emergency obstetric care (as needed), with accessibility to family planning services.

In Pakistan, she said, the fistula treatment centres were now available in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Multan, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, AbbottabadandIslamabad.

-Staff Reporter