By Suzan Edeh, Bauchi
Imagine being kicked out of your matrimonial home by your husband because you are suffering from a disease or health challenge that exposes you to public humiliation and stigmatization. This sadly is the lot of most victims of Vesico Vaginal Fistula, VVF, an ailment resulting from an abnormal fistulous tract that extends from the urinary bladder (‘vesico’) to the vagina, leading to an involuntary continuous discharge of urine into the vagina (urinary incontinence).

It is a health predicament which is particularly prevalent among women in the Northern part of the country who are more often than not regarded as cursed based on the misguided belief that they are paying for their sins.

This was the case in Bauchi State where about 2000 women suffered from the scourge before the establishment of the VVF centre in the state. Majority of these VVF victims were women living in the rural areas who mostly resigned themselves to fate as they were constrained by lack of finance to seek treatment for the ailment.

But happily the situation was to change for the better for them when last year the Bauchi state Government in collaboration with the United State Agency International Development, USAID, completed arrangements to establish a VVF centre that will alleviate the sufferings of these traumatised women under a project known as the Fistula Care.

*VVF victim, Aisha Isa. INSET: Inside the VVF Care Centre

A delegation from the United States of America soon visited Bauchi State to discuss the modalities for the establishment of the centre that was sited in Ningi General Hospital. The State Government under the Ministry of Health embarked on four massive enlightenment campaigns on VVF so that women in the rural areas and neighbouring states could become more aware of the disease and seek proper medical attention in hospitals.

Some of the medical services that were rendered to patients during the campaigns included medical assessment, admissions and surgical repairs and all the services were all free of charge.  The state government further introduced skill acquisition programmes for patients that underwent surgical repairs so that they can become empowered financially and be reintegrated with their families into the society.

Apart from the skill acquisition programmes and the offering of free medical treatment to women living with VVF, the state government, under the Fistual Care Project, increased manpower by employing the services of trained doctors and nurses who helped cater for the health needs of the patients undergoing treatment. There was also a massive renovation of additional wards and theatres at the hospital with increased bed capacity so as to render effective services to the patients.

Gov Yuguda inaugurates VVF centre

Following the rendering of health services to victims of VVF, the stage was set for the commissioning of the centre at the Ningi General Hospital in Bauchi State. Indeed on April 10, 2012, the Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda officially inaugurated the centre to fight the persistence of VVF in the North.

The Governor explained that the decision to establish the VVF centre was informed by his visits to some states in the country where such medical services exist. According to Gov. Yuguda: “The VVF care project in the state was funded by the United States Government through the United State Agency for International Development, USAID, at the sum of N150 million.

Since the establishment of the centre, about 140 women have visited the facility out of which 80 had undergone surgical repairs at the centre from four campaigns. The centre is the first in the entire North-East and its establishment is in line with my vision to provide improved health care services for the people of the state”.

The United State Agency for International Development, USAID, through the project manager of the Fistula Care Centre, Dr. Musur Dada, said the project which did not start in a big way had today become a reality which he attributed to the support that Governor Yuguda gave to it.

According to Dr. Dada: “Since this project started, over 100 women have undergone successful surgical operation in Bauchi and this shows the government’s efforts at bringing healthcare closer to the people”.

Repaired patient recounts ordeal with VVF

A 30-year-old mother of two, Aisha Isa, narrated to Vanguard Metro how she contacted VVF, saying it was after the birth of her second child that she noticed that she could no longer control her urine. According to Aisha: “It was after I gave birth to my second child that I noticed that I could no longer control my urine. I would wet my matrimonial bed with urine and this usually makes me to smell. The situation was actually very embarrassing to me and my husband”.

Aisha further disclosed that but for her caring and compassionate husband who brought her to the centre to be treated, she could have become frustrated and lived a miserable life. She called on women who are suffering from VVF to come out to seek medical attention early before the disease degenerates into something worse.

She was also of the opinion that women who have been rejected or divorced as a result of VVF, should not return to their husbands because, according to her: “I feel if a man really loves you, he should stand by you in all situations, whether good or bad.

There is no guarantee that he will stand by his wife if something bad happens to her again. To me I don’t think it is really fair to give him another chance since he did not prove his worth in the first instance”.