14 DAY TRIAL // Experts have rung the bell over the female genital condition spreading in East Africa: Vesical Vagina Fistulas (VVF). This is an abnormal connection between the urinary bladder and the vagina provoking constant leakage of urine in women.
More than 90% of the cases are determined by prolonged obstructed labor, while 10% by surgery complication. Minor factors are the tumor of the cervix, radiation, trauma, infections that induce the birth of a dead child.
The condition affects mostly poor women and girls who can not pay a skilled supervised health facility and the vast majority are young, aged 15-23, who due to their incomplete physical development are more predisposed to the difficult and prolonged labor.
"The cost of VVF surgery for a single woman is US$250 making it very expensive for the less fortunate women in the villages. It is estimated that 30 % of rural women suffer from this condition," said Dr. Wakasiakha Khisia of Nairobi's Nazareth Hospital.
East Africa has a population of over 90 million and over 5000 new cases of VVF occur yearly, but only 1600 patients are operated annually. The shortage of VVF doctors are due to the lack of proper health facilities in the rural areas and local traditions that ask for giving birth at home.
In Kenya, which is relatively developed, there are 15 hospitals and 30 doctors that deal with VVF patients. 28 VVF doctors have been trained in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and there is an initiative for free medical treatment on VVF surgery in the region.
"The high cost of VVF surgery has hindered most women from accessing surgical operation in East Africa leading to development of other related and painful medical conditions such as nerve injuries to patients." said the doctors.
VVF is the most severe of all pregnancy related conditions and from 2 million women worldwide suffering from it 1.5 million are from Africa. In Kenya, only 7.5 % of the new 400 cases in 2006 have been operated.