In developing countries, the distance to roads and health facilities is said to be a major obstacle in accessing reproductive health care or delivering health care to the household. The access problem is in addition to what are known to be the causes of high maternal mortality and morbidity, which include the problem of obstetric fistula, the low economic and social status of women, poverty, po...

The Martius flap procedure is a surgical procedure used to treat obstetric fistulas in women. Heinrich Martius developed the procedure in twentieth century Germany to treat women with urinary incontinence caused by stress, and later doctors used it to repair obstetric fistulas. Fistulas occur in pregnant women when a hole is torn between the vagina [3] and the urinary tract (called vesicovagina...

The Martius flap procedure is a surgical procedure used to treat obstetric fistulas in women. Heinrich Martius developed the procedure in twentieth century Germany to treat women with urinary incontinence caused by stress, and later doctors used it to repair obstetric fistulas. Fistulas occur in pregnant women when a hole is torn between the vagina [3] and the urinary tract (called vesicovagina...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether sisters of women with obstetric fistula (OF) were aware of their sisters' condition, in order to inform the development of survey questions that adapt the sister-based method to fistula rate estimation. METHODS Twelve women with OF and 20 of their sisters were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires in rural Uganda in 2007. Topics included fistula aware...

The term ‘‘neglected tropical diseases’’ (NTDs) is commonly used to refer to a ‘‘baker’s dozen’’ of infectious conditions prevalent in resource-poor tropical countries. The 13 core diseases in the NTD group include ascariasis, dracunculiasis, hookworm, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trichuriasis, Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis, Buruli ulcer, leprosy, and t...