Some 545 Nigerians treated for horrid pregnancy injury

Some 545 Nigerian women were treated during a crash two-week campaign against obstetric fistula, one of the worst pregnancy-related disabilities that often goes untreated, a U.N. agency said on Monday.

Nigeria has an estimated 800,000 cases of fistula, among the highest rates in the world. In most cases the baby dies and the woman is left with a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum, which makes her leak urine and feces.

"Women living with fistula put a human face on the necessity of having good maternal health care," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), which helped organize the campaign that ran from Feb. 21 to March 6.

Surgeons from the United States and Britain worked with Nigerian doctors to persuade women to come for an operation and train health workers to help repair the injury, which has often relegated victims to isolated huts.

A Nigerian woman has a 1 in 18 lifetime risk of dying from complications of childbirth compared to 1 in 2,400 in Europe, UNFPA said in a statement.

The agency has programs in some 35 countries to combat the condition, which often occurs when labor is prolonged because the baby is too large for the birth canal. Child brides are particularly vulnerable because their bodies are underdeveloped.

At least 2 million women are living with the condition and 50,000 cases are added every year, UNFPA said.

Prevention involves a Caesarian section for delivery and if this is not done, reconstructive surgery, even years after the pregnancy, can mend the hole. The cost ranges from $100 to $400, often a prohibitive amount for impoverished women.

The campaign included radio and television announcements as well as treatment centers and training for doctors, nurses and social workers.

The Nigerian program is sponsored by the government, the Nigerian Red Cross Society as well as UNFPA and volunteer groups. The areas involved were in the north of the country - in the states of Kano, Katsina, Kebby and Sokoto.

UNFPA has said that Benin, Chad, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, Zambia as well as Nigeria were among the nations with a high rate of fistula.