Thirty-five women set to undergo free corrective surgery for obstetric fistula in Juba.

Thirty-five women are set to undergo free corrective surgery for obstetric fistula. The two-week surgical camp opens Friday at the Lutheran Primary Health Unit in Juba.

Visiting surgeons will perform procedures on the women brought in from Jonglei, Warrap, Unity, Eastern Equatoria, and Central Equatoria states.

The coordinator of the fistula program at the Lutheran Primary Health Unit, Giir Mou says women from other parts of the country could not be reached for registration due to insecurity.

Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury that destroys a woman’s life. It leaves her incontinent, humiliated and too often shunned by her community. Surgery is the only cure.

Fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged obstructed labor which leads to uncontrolled excretion. During her prolonged labor, the mother’s contractions continually push the baby’s head against her pelvis. Soft tissues caught between the baby’s head and her pelvic bone become compressed, restricting the normal flow of blood.

Without adequate blood supply, sections of tissue soon die, leaving holes—known as “fistulae” —between the mother’s vagina and her bladder or rectum. It is these holes that cause incontinence. If untreated, the woman will uncontrollably leak urine, stool, or sometimes both, for the rest of her life.

The national ministry of health estimates that more than sixty thousand women in South Sudan are living with the condition, in hiding due to shame.