One of Bridgender Gap Global (BGG) aims is to support women and girls suffering with obstetric fistula and above all campaign to eradicate this preventable and treatable disease.
What is obstetric fistula
Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious and tragic childbirth injuries. It is a hole between the birth canal and bladder or rectum caused by prolonged, obstructed labour (that can often last for six to seven days!!!), without access to timely, high-quality medical treatment. It leaves women leaking urine, faeces or both, and often leads to chronic medical problems, depression, social isolation and deepening poverty
As per the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “The underlying factors that contribute to women’s and girls’ marginalization – including lack of access to quality health services and education, persistent poverty and gender inequality, child marriage, adolescent pregnancy and failure to protect human rights.
Child birth should be a happy moment for every woman NOT a devastating experience
That is why one of our focus at BGG is to improve gender equity in health, acknowledging that women’s rights to better health is one of the most direct and potent ways to achieve social justice and bring change to whole communities.
Our top priority is to rehabilitate girls and women suffering from obstetric fistula. The “smell of leaking urine, faeces or both, is constant and humiliating, often driving the patients’ family, friends and neighbours away” … and these victims are usually stigmatized, ostracised and very often seen as a cursed to their families and communities. Most of the women are first time mothers in this condition, a condition that leaves most of its victims about 90% with still born babies, not only this but they are usually abandoned by their husbands and families (because they smell) making it difficult for them to secure income or support, thereby deepening their poverty. Their isolation may affect their mental health, resulting in depression, low self-esteem and even suicide.
Gender inequality damages the physical and mental health of millions of girls and women across the globe. (World Health Organisation).
Obstetric fistula is a stark outcome of gender inequalities, human rights denial and poor access to reproductive health services, including maternal and new-born care, and an indication of high levels of maternal death and disability. The psychological harm suffered by its victims make it a form of violence against women as per the definition of Violence Against Women (VAW) by the United Nations Declaration on Elimination of violence against women (1993) as: “… any act of gender based violence that results in physical sexual and psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether in public or private life”.
According to UNFPA, gender based violence undermines the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims, yet it remains shrouded in a culture of silence. Victims of violence such as girls involved in child/early marriages can suffer sexual and reproductive health consequences such as obstetric fistula. In Ethiopia, 80% of women (and in some parts of thecountry up to 100%) are mutilated, as a means of women’s loyalty to culture and faith (Haregewoin and Emebet, 2003) and fistula in some cases has been known to be a long-term effect of FGM.
Our goal/overall objective
At Bridgender gap global we are promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, through addressing social and economic gaps of women victims of obstetric fistula in Africa starting in Ethiopia. More specifically, BGG works to:
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Increase their access to education and training opportunities.
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Increase awareness and sensitisation against child marriages as a cause of maternal morbidity (fistula) ad increase efforts to keep adolescent girls in school and outlaw child marriages
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Improve the women’s self-esteem and sense of personal power through counselling
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Increase their access to and control over economic resources particularly employment opportunities and credit assistances.
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Educate women about their rights and responsibilities.
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Increase women’s access to health information and women’s control over their own bodies.
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Provide psychosocial support mechanisms to these women
Activities: Some of the activities BGG is carrying out include promoting the sales of handmade products by the victims at the Fistula hospital
The women at the fistula hospital carry out various craft activities while undergoing their treatment at the hospitals. This serves as a means of building their capacities in life skills and a source of income for the women. These activities include;
- Tie & dye/print on fabrics, knitting,
- Production of paper beads,
- Embroidery,
- Weaving with wool and dried grass,
- Production of post cards….
Thus, they produce a wide variety of beautiful handmade clothing, household and décor items such as scarfs, mufflers, table/chair covers, jewellery, grass woven trays, season greetings cards, carpets…. These products are displayed and sold at the fistula hospital and the income from their sales goes directly to the ladies who produce the items.
Get Involved
At BGG we very much welcome any form of support you make towards helping our patients. All your kind donations will go towards the projects to treat and rehabilitate victims of fistula. You can get involve through your kind donation, follow us on twitter, blog with us to raise awareness and to campaign against Fistula, volunteer as a fundraiser, as a trainer in person or by sending training materials to help train our victims in the projects that we do.
Yvonne Leina Chi is an award winning international journalist and Women’s Rights Activist.She is Founder and CEO of the Women Relief Services where she joins forces with local women to combat harmful cultural practices against women and girls in African Communities.She is also the Global Outreach Strategist for
Grace is the CEO of Adelaar Energy and an advisory board member of the African Energy Chamber. She commenced her professional journey as an audit staff at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) before she transitioned to the energy industry. She started off as a Business Planning and Economic Analyst for Shell Cameroon and then worked as a Business Analyst and Economist for Shell Nigeria for several years. She also worked as a senior manager (business planning and economics) at a medium-sized multi-national company, Addax Petroleum (SINOPEC Company) before moving to Eroton Exploration & Production Company, one of Nigeria’s biggest indigenous startups where she served as a senior manager in Business strategy and economics.
