May 23^rd is the first-ever International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, but for the majority of the 2 million or more women suffering from this devastating condition and the 50,000 to 100,000 new cases each year, the UN General Assembly-designated day will most likely come and go without their knowledge.

Twelve post-operative women at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia are ready to go home. They have had their obstetric fistulae repaired, and they have been given new dresses (the constant leakage of body waste, caused by fistulae, ruins clothing). Only a few have live babies. Most have given birth to stillborn babies.

© 2004 Ruth Kennedy, Courtesy of Photoshare

Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal (either between the rectum and vagina or bladder and vagina) caused by prolonged labor without prompt medical intervention, usually a Caesarian section. The woman is left with chronic urinary and/or fecal incontinence and in most cases a stillborn baby, according to the UNFPA-led Campaign to End Fistula, which is marking its 10^th anniversary this year.

As my colleague, Rebecca Shore, wrote in a 2011 K4Health blog post, “Continuous incontinence makes normal life a struggle, and women with fistula may also suffer from recurring infections, paralysis in the lower legs, and infertility. To make matters worse, many afflicted women also find themselves divorced or abandoned.” 

Over the past decade the UNFPA campaign has directly supported over 34,000 women to receive fistula treatment, and partner agencies have supported thousands more, but as the figures above illustrate much more needs to be done. (A contribution of $10 will help feed a recovering fistula patient for two weeks, $60  pays for a Caesarian section to prevent the problem. The average cost of fistula treatment—including surgery, post-operative care, and rehabilitation support—is $300. Donate here.)

Originally appearing on USAID's Impact Blog during their focus on global health throughout the month of May and featuring the important role of mothers and partnerships May 11-17, this post by Ruwaida Salem and Stephen Goldstein highlights the importance of family planniing in reducing maternal mortality and the innovative partnerships that maximize USAID's investment to achieve greater impact.

With memories of Mother’s Day in the U.S. this past weekend still fresh in the mind—family gatherings, celebrations, festive meals, presents, flowers, and more—attention turns to the estimated 287,000 maternal deaths that occur each year, mostly in developing countries.

A mother and child attend a family planning counseling session in Chaibasa, India.

© 2012 Jennifer Applegate, Courtesy of Photoshare

During this week, USAID is focusing on mothers and on how maternal health is critical to achieving its global health goals. Partnerships between the private sector and NGOs, foundations, associations, and others have allowed USAID to maximize its health impact around the world.

The death of a mother profoundly affects the health and well-being of her children. When a mother dies, her children are less likely to survive. If a mother dies in childbirth, her child is 10 times more likely to die before reaching age one.

While maternal mortality remains unacceptably high throughout the developing world, a number of USAID-assisted countries have achieved significant reductions in maternal deaths from pregnancy-related causes. For example, several countries have already achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 (PDF)—reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015—including the following countries in which USAID works:

• Romania (achieved an 84% reduction, from 170 to 27 maternal deaths per 100,000 live birth)
• Equitorial Guinea (81% reduction, from 1,200 to 240 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births)
• Nepal (78% reduction, from 770 to 170 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births)
• Vietnam (76% reduction, from 240 to 59 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births)

Several countries are also on track to achieving MDG 5, including Bangladesh (with a 5.9% average annual decline in maternal mortality) and Egypt (6% annual decline).

Nevertheless, even with the global decline of maternal mortality by 47% since 1990, the level is far short of the 2015 target and developing regions still have maternal mortality rates 15 times higher than developed regions.

In the past few years, I have been a part of many different types of online discussions. More recently there has been an upswing of Tweetchats. Today, any well organized meeting, conference, or discussion is complimented by some kind of common hashtag, Twitter, or Facebook presence. It helps the event gain exposure and fuels conversation with people who may not be able to attend in person.  

On Thursday, May 16  the Guardian’s Global Development Professionals Network hosted the online discussion/debate, How can social media change how development is done?  People were able to participate through comments on the actual post or using #GlobalDevLive participants were able to post questions and make comments via Twitter.

Social Media as a Global Community

Peer-to-peer versus dissemination. Graphic facilitation by The Value Web.

Though the conversation only lasted about an hour, took in nearly 200 comments on the discussion forum page and over 450 tweets. There were nine panelists including myself that were from all over the world and with many different development backgrounds.  So much was shared through the forum and through Twitter, it was overwhelming how important social media has become to the development community.

One participant wrote, “In terms of development, social media has an unrivaled capacity to empower the individual. Nothing promotes freedom of speech like social media.”

Powerful thoughts and words were littered throughout the page about how social media will give a voice to those without a voice.  One panelist, David Girling agreed with a participant and stated that social media has the ability to change development, “It has, can, will and it should.”

Family Planning 101 is one of the most popular eLearning courses housed at the Global Health eLearning Center, with over 65,419 learners subscribed thus far!

 

Modinat Bamidele, a family planning client, attends a counseling session with a service provider at Orolodo primary health centre in Omuaran township in Nigeria’s central state of Kwara.

© 2012 Akintunde Akinleye/NURHI, Courtesy of Photoshare

As an immigrant from Kenya, I have seen the negative effects that lack of family planning (FP) can have on women and their families. I have lost nieces and nephews due to ill-timed births and close friends as a result of early childbearing. If these individuals had access to information on family planning services, I believe that they would be alive today. 

Being indelibly affected by these unwarranted deaths, I decided to channel my inner fury into something actionable and decided to pursue public health in graduate school. I have since taken a number of family planning online courses, but to date, none has had more real-life examples based on behavior change communication theories than the Family Planning 101 eLearning Course. This course provides relevant and up-to-date information on voluntary FP programs and services. It is very well designed and would be a good tool for individuals to gain the knowledge needed to conduct basic family planning education. Topics included in the course are:

1. Rationale for voluntary family planning;
2. Family planning method considerations;
3. Short-acting contraceptive methods;
4. Long-acting and permanent contraceptive methods;
5. Special needs;
6. Quality and access;
7. Special delivery tools; and
8. Contraceptive security.