Program Approach

Fistula Care works to prevent fistula from occurring in the first place, treats and cares for women who have fistula, and assists in their rehabilitation and reintegration into their families and communities. We provide technical assistance and support to health facilities and communities so they can provide holistic care to women with fistula, including psychosocial support and counseling before, during, and after surgery. 

Our activities include:

• Upgrading facilities and providing medical equipment and supplies.
• Training health care staff in counseling to enable them to provide emotional support and facilitate the reintegration of repaired fistula survivors into their communities.
• Enabling health facilities to monitor and improve the quality of their services continuously —better meeting the needs of the women served as well as the health care staff who support them.
• Supporting transportation and hospitalization costs for fistula clients.
• Raising awareness in communities and hospitals about both fistula prevention and the availability of care and repair services for affected women.
• Strengthening facility-based birthing and emergency obstetric care for prevention of fistula.
• Partnering with other institutions to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of women with fistula through skills training and/or income generation.
• Conducting clinical and programmatic research to improve the safety and efficiency of care.
• Working with hospitals to improve the quality of the services they offer, for fistula and more generally.