By Staff Reporter
A latest report from humam rights watchdog, Amnesty International has exposed the ongoing risk of obstetric fistula among pregnant women and girls in Zimbabwe due to the government’s failure to protect sexual and reproductive health rights.
Obstetric fistula is a medical condition characterized by an abnormal opening that forms between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum.
This condition typically arises due to prolonged pressure on these tissues during obstructed labor.
The report indicates that up to 90 percent of women who develop obstetric fistula also endure stillbirth.
Amnesty International has called upon the government to intensify its initiatives for preventing obstetric fistula.
“This report finds that the experiences of fistula patients in Zimbabwe indicate a failure of the Zimbabwean government to uphold sexual and reproductive health rights and the rights to equality and privacy and to be free from torture and other ill-treatment of women and girls in the country, in direct violation of various commitments it has under international and regional law as well as its own Constitution.
“In holding the government of Zimbabwe to these obligations, Amnesty International recommends that the government should urgently increase efforts to prevent obstetric fistula, as well as increase efforts to identify and treat women with maternal morbidities, including obstetric fistula, by adequately funding and operationalising a comprehensive public maternal health care policy; ensuring such policy is in line with the international standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality.
“Importantly, the policy must be contextualized to the COVID-19 crisis. The government of Zimbabwe is also encouraged to take immediate action against any acts of violence and ill-treatment inflicted on women during childbirth and ensure that neither third parties nor harmful social or traditional practices interfere with women and girls’ rights to sexual and reproductive health, including enacting legislation to prohibit child marriage,” the report reads.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), said obstetric fistula can be prevented by reducing the number of early and unplanned pregnancies, by ending harmful practices, such as child marriage, and ensuring access to quality emergency obstetric care, especially caesarean section.
Globally obstetric fistula has been nearly eliminated in high-income countries worldwide, thanks to access to quality obstetric care. However, in low-income countries, such as Zimbabwe, over two million women continue to live with this condition.
