Communities ignore fistula treatment despite its reports, says official

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Reports on fistula are there in communities, but people tend to fail to turn up to treat the sickness, says Aburi Godfrey James, head of Kapoeta Mission Hospital in Eastern Equatoria State.

He admits that it needs massive awareness and sensitization to the community to report related abnormalities, Radio Emmanuel reported.

“We do have cases of fistula, however these cases are there in the community but most cases they don’t turn up to the hospital, it is of the recent that when we do a lot of community awareness, sensitization on fistula that you are able to see a mother who comes to the hospital with a concern of a leakage of urine, so it means that these cases are there but are isolated”, says Dr Godfrey.

The official says fistula is mostly common with pregnant mothers under age and above 35 years.

Dr. Godfrey says fistula can be prevented by avoiding earlier marriages to obstetric and other complications following birth.

“For us to prevent we need to avoid early marriages give the person time for the pelvis to get mature so that they are not at risk of getting obstetric fistula or complications following birth, and then another thing is that when they conceive these people should actually have delivery at hospital but we have noticed that most of the people actually deliver in the communities other than delivering in the hospital, so because of that when they are in the community they are in the hands of traditional birth attendance and yet these are higher risk mothers the young ones that they need to be in the hands of skilled birth attendance”, he enlightens.

The speaker talked to Radio Emanuel in a mobile telephone interview from Kapoeta, Eastern Equatoria State.