PUNCH
Zuwaira Iliya, 46, of Makarfi village in Makarfi Local Government Area of Kaduna State has been grappling with Obstetric Fistula but has kept hope alive in spite of what appears to be a hopeless situation.
She told the News Agency of Nigeria that she had lived with Vesicovaginal Fistula and Rectovaginal Fistula for 30 years, as she contracted the condition at the age of 16 after her marriage.
Iliya sits quietly on her hospital bed with a catheter showing from the side of her wrapper as she slowly narrates her 30 years of struggle, living with continuous leakage of urine and faeces.
She told a NAN correspondent who was at the VVF Unit of Gambo Sawaba General Hospital, Zaria in Kaduna State, on a special interview to mark the 2023 International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, that she would be healed against all odds.
Iliya said that she became pregnant soon after her marriage but experienced prolonged labour during childbirth,
adding that she lost the baby and also developed both VVF and RVF in the process.
VVF or Obstetric Fistula, also known as fistula, is a childbirth complication which leads to abnormal opening between the bladder and the vagina, causing continuous and unremitting urinary incontinence.
