Too many women with fistula, not enough doctors to fix them

TO GO WITH AFP STOBY BY AMY FALLONPatients wait in a ward prio to undergo obstetric fistula repair surgery at the Mulago Hospital in Kampala on October 31, 2014. Millions of women in developing countries suffer from the obstetric fistula, a hole in the vagina or rectum caused by prolonged labour without treatment which means they leak urine uncontrollably, and also endure the social stigma arising as a result of it. More than about 200,000 Uganda women live with fistula, but there are 1,900 new cases annually -- this is just above the 1,850 women who were treated surgically in 2013, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund, which funds the majority of repairs through the Campaign to End Fistula. AFP PHOTO/ Isaac Kasamani

Millions of women in developing countries suffer from a hole in the vagina or rectum caused by prolonged labour without treatment. In Africa, doctors are battling staggering numbers. 

After suffering the tragedy of giving birth to a stillborn child nine years ago, Anna Grace Amuko was left with a debilitating condition. Amuko suffers from obstetric fistula, a hole in the vagina or rectum caused by prolonged labour without treatment, which means she leaks urine uncontrollably.