Women Affairs

Women suffering from obstetric fistula in Malawi received free medical care to reverse their condition during the country's Fistula Week. Between Oct. 12 and 18, the Malawian government, with technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), treated more than 130 destitute women who have no or little access to health care services. Lausi Adamu, from Makanjira in Malawi's lake district of Mangochi, who does not know her exact age, has suffered from fistula for the last 25 years. Her affliction came to an end last week, when she received an operation free of charge to stop her ailment. Adamu told IPS reporter Pilirani Semu-Banda about her life with the disease as she recuperated in hospital after the operation. How did you develop fistula? It was 25 years ago, when I was in labour for three days while giving birth to my first and only child at home. I received no medical care throughout pregnancy, and it was only my mother who was with me during ...

Deborah Kotz One in seven American couples grapples with infertility, often with no explainable medical cause. A new book, The Fertility Diet, may offer a low-tech, low-cost solution for some. It's based on research from the well-respected Harvard Nurses' Health Study suggesting that diet may play a role in women's efforts to conceive. The book identifies particular nutrients they should be getting, such as iron, or avoiding, such as trans fats, to improve their chances of getting pregnant. How much are the odds increased? The book doesn't say. That's because the 10-step plan was formulated from dietary habits collected from surveys—and not actually tested on infertile women. While no one knows whether this plan can truly help women get pregnant, it's based, for the most part, on good nutrition and smart health habits. Book coauthor Jorge Chavarro, an investigator on the Nurses' Health Study and research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, spoke w...