Ahead of the 2025 World Obstetric Fistula Day, health professionals in Northeast Nigeria are urging heightened awareness and proactive measures to combat the preventable yet debilitating condition. Dr. Aisha Adamu Buba, a consultant gynaecologist at Yobe State University Teaching Hospital, highlighted the importance of the day during an interview with journalists in Damaturu on Friday. She stressed the need for both government and community efforts to focus on awareness, prevention, and treatment. She said, “Obstetric fistula, a childbirth injury that leaves women with lifelong physical and social burdens, is often caused by prolonged obstructed labour, surgical errors, or unsafe delivery practices.” Buba described it as a “heartbreaking consequence of neglected maternal healthcare.”
She stressed that the condition affects thousands of women in low-resource regions, with many cases hidden in Northern Nigeria due to shame or lack of access to treatment.
“Recent progress has been made in Yobe, with free surgical campaigns at the Mother and Child Health Hospital repairing over 100 cases of fistula in late 2024,” she emphasised.
Buba stressed that obstetric fistula is preventable through strategies such as family planning, early identification of high-risk pregnancies, skilled birth attendants, and emergency obstetric services.
Buba also called for extended outreach and urged women in Yobe to utilise free clinics, insist on facility births, and adopt postpartum contraception.
“The Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) and government agencies are working to educate communities, reduce stigma, and strengthen healthcare systems.
“Healing begins with awareness.
“Together, we can ensure every woman has the right to save motherhood, “she concluded.
