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.
There is are 2 versions ((7min and 2min)
There is are 2 versions (7min and 2min)
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
