By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
CALABAR—THE increasing rate of Vesico Vaginal Fistula, VVF, has become a source of worry to medical experts in the country, who said that there are 12, 000 new cases of the scourge every year.

Meanwhile, experts have said it would take the next 15 years or more to clear the backlog of VVF cases, even if there are no fresh infections in Nigeria.

Speaking at a workshop for journalists in Ogoja, Cross River State, yesterday, Dr. Mohammed Bashir, a fistula doctor in Zamfara State, who delivered a talk on managing a VVF centre, said the fact that a sudden lull in the number of patients at a centre, who turn up for repairs soon result in an astronomical increase, meant that the disease would take time to be eradicated.

The disease, experts said, had been in the country for long and awareness on its treatment was being created, though those suffering from the ailment in the hinterlands are unaware of its cure and would continue to live with it for a long time.

Bashir explained that some women may be carrying the disease for 20 or more years and for reasons of stigmatisation or lack of information on its treatment, they will continue to suffer in silence, stressing that much still needed to be done to sensitise the womenfolk, especially those in the rural areas, about the existence of VVF repair centres in the cities.

He added that the lack of a national data on fistula infection, had made it difficult to conclude whether the disease was decreasing or increasing, though more clients were turning up on daily basis nationwide at fistula centres for repairs. He appealed to women who have contacted the disease to feel free to go for cure.