Future Initiatives
projects to start as financing allows and prioritization dictates
More ideas for Addressing Vaginal Fistulae
Prevention
Fistulas result from prolonged difficult childbirth. If the child’s head is disproportionate to the mother’s pelvis, it is more likely that obstructive labor will occur, potentially resulting in the formation of a fistula causing incontinence. Anything that prevents obstructive labor will reduce the occurrence of fistula.
There are numerous organizations working to improve maternal and child survival. The work of these organizations is largely aimed at addressing cultural norms or practices that are harmful to young women and their success reduces the number of women who suffer from fistula.
As a medical device company, our intention is to complement these efforts with technology solutions. There are a number of medical technologies that can reduce the frequency or duration of obstructive labor and thereby prevent fistula formation. We will perform more in-depth evaluation of these concepts prior to initiating their development in order to determine the feasibility, cost and impact of each. This will drive our prioritization.
Stay tuned; we will provide progress updates here.
Treatment
There are hospitals and medical practitioners focused on surgical repair of fistulas in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are also teams of surgeons who fly from western countries on humanitarian missions to treat these women. The repairs are generally successful, but not in all patients.
In addition, many women with fistulas do not have access to this care, and it is expensive to build facilities and train health care workers to broaden availability.
The solutions we envision are aimed at addressing these limitations. They would provide lower cost solutions that can be administered by indigenous health care providers to women at locations closer to their villages.
These are big objectives, but they can be achieved.