Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director of UNFPA, has called for efforts to eliminate fistula and support its survivors through prevention, treatment and advocacy.

Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury that is usually caused by prolonged, obstructed labour, without timely medical intervention. During unassisted, prolonged, obstructed labour, the sustained pressure of the baby’s head on the mother’s pelvic bone damages soft tissues, creating a hole—or fistula—between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum.

In a statement on the occasion of the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, Dr. Osotimehin said, “Obstetric fistula is almost exclusively a condition of the poorest, most vulnerable and most marginalized women and girls... As a doctor myself and, most importantly, father to four beloved daughters, I am personally outraged that fistula, which is wholly preventable, still occurs in today’s world.”

He said that the UN agency that he heads will make ending fistula one of its highest priorities. “We cannot give up until every single woman and girl living with fistula has been treated,” he added.