30 October 2009
SIM, in partnership with The Worldwide Fistula Fund (WFF) and The Leprosy Mission (TLM), has recently been given permission to open a Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) Centre in Danja, Niger. This is something that many have been praying for since November 2008.
Much like its 'sister centre', Evangel Hospital VVF, in Jos, Nigeria, the Danja Center will be a place of refuge and healing for young women who have been ostracised in their communities because of the symptoms and the stigma that come with a vesicovaginal fistula.
Birth injuries are the most common cause of VVF, often stemming from giving young girls in marriage before their bodies are mature enough to give birth. Many of these young women give birth in village huts, far from medical help. When a baby gets stuck in the birth canal, a fistula will often occur between the birth canal and bladder or rectum. This causes a constant leakage of urine and/or faeces into the vaginal canal, and surgery is the only solution.
The Danja Fistula Surgery and Training Centre is being constructed adjacent to SIM's Danja Health and Leprosy Centre, Centre de Santé et de Leprologie (CSL). The CSL has been in operation since 1956, and has a good reputation in the community. The proximity will also be a benefit as CSL Danja already has innovative programmes in place for rehabilitation and social reintegration that can easily be transferred to the needs of the new fistula patients.
To learn more about VVF and the Danja VVF Centre, please visit The Worldwide Fistula Fund website.
If you would like to support this ministry please specify that your gift is for the CSL Danja Fistula Centre (project no. 97517). Thank you.
