Fistula - A film to promote better maternal health care globally.

This short film has been made to raise awareness, reduce stigma about fistula, and highlight the devastating impact fistula has on women who live with this condition. The goal is to make life better and safer for women giving birth and to prevent fistula from happening in the first place. The film is a call to action to improve access to maternal care including quality, safe, timely, and affordable surgical, obstetric, and anesthesia care—and promote safe motherhood for all.

What is Fistula ? Obstetric fistula is a devastating childbirth injury in which an abnormal opening forms between a woman’s bladder and vagina or between the rectum and the vagina as a result of prolonged obstructed labor, resulting in continuous urinary or stool leakage. This condition is rare in high-income countries due to readily available obstetric care, while it continues to plague women in low resource settings. Estimates suggest that at least 2 million women have unrepaired obstetric fistula in low-income countries.

Goal The goal of this film is to enhance public, national, and international awareness, raising the priority of women’s reproductive health for low resource countries, expanding access to emergency obstetric and surgical services, and supporting holistic and high-quality obstetric fistula care for all who need it. The film is particularly timely given recent WHO data in 2023 showing that maternal deaths have increased or stagnated in nearly all regions of the world in the last 20 years, and continued staggering gaps in access to surgical, obstetric, and anesthesia care.

The film will also decrease the stigma imposed on women living with fistula through awareness. Finally, with increasing migration of women to high resource countries due to global instability from conflict, climate change, pandemic etc, it is critical that the medical community in high resource countries is educated and prepared to care for these women.

Full Credits :

Directed : Dearbhla Glynn

Produced : Paddy Daly

DOP : Paddy Jordan

Executive Producer : Dr Rahel Nardos

Editor : Cara Holmes

Additional Editor : Michael Higgins

Offline / Online Editor : Michael Higgins

Founder Terrewoode and Executive Director: Alice Emasu Seruyange

Medical Director Terrewoode : Mary Aono

Programs Manager Terrewoode : Martha Ibeno

HR/Admin Manager Terrewoode : Monica Opus

Finance Manager Terrewoode : Lutie Kobusinge

Uganda FIxer and Sound operator : Kisakye David Bel-lion

Translation: Stella Apio and Alvine Nanyange

Driver: Jafali Peirre

Music : The Blaze

Aidan Kavanagh

Funding support

Maternal Health Fund

https://maternalhealthfund.org/

University of Minnesota, Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility https://globalhealthcenter.umn.edu/global-womens-health

Global Women’s Initiative

https://gwhi.org/

Advocacy Partners

The Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma, and Anaesthesia Care (G4 Alliance)

https://www.theg4alliance.org/

Film Hosts

Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital

https://terrewode.org/

Director of Global Women's Health, Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota. Dr Rahel Nardos

Special Thanks

Asalo Rose

Isiangu lois

Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility team at the University of Minnesota

Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital Management

The patients who shared their stories

The G4 Alliance

Joseph Kinihan

Alice Emasu

Nigel Rossiter

&

In Memory of Steven J Sockolov