News

Farah* recently received surgical treatment for obstetric fistula. She says she can now "live a normal life." © UNFPA Afghanistan

22 May, 2019

Treatment for traumatic childbirth injury gives new hope to women in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – “I saw myself as the living dead,” 50-year-old Laila* told UNFPA. She suffered terribly while giving birth in Pakistan 27 years ago. The prolonged, obstructed labour left her with an obstetric fistula – one of the most serious injuries that can occur during childbirth. The...

20 September, 2018

After decades of suffering, fistula survivors in Nepal find reprieve

DHARAN, Nepal – At the age of 17, Palesh Devi Rajdhobi was married off to a man she had never met. One year later, she gave birth to her first child. Then another, and another. When she was pregnant with her sixth, she knew something was wrong. “By the time I was taken to the hospital, it was...

Najat suffered a traumatic birth injury, and nearly died, after her in-laws refused to take her to a hospital during labour. © National Midwives Association/UNFPA

25 June, 2018

Midwife escapes death after being denied maternal health care

SANA’A, Yemen – Najat, a trained midwife, was well aware of the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth. But when her own health needs and professional judgment clashed with her husband’s traditional ideas, she suffered in ways she could not have imagined. Najat was a midwife in the Wesab area of...