Fistula Pilgrims, produced by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) (www.figo.org/projects/fistula_ initiative), tells the compelling story of an Ethiopian girl Telanish. She was married at age 10, pregnant at 11, and gave birth to a stillborn child when she was only 12 years old. Because of a long and obstructed labor, she had a genital or obstetric fistula (OF) resulting in bowel and bladder incontinence. Her husband left her, and she was ostracized and abandoned by her family and community. Her future is bleak. Typical of many women suffering from OFs in the developing world, she was found hiding away in a dark hut.OFs result most often from obstructed labor, frequently in young women lacking a fully developed pelvis, due to soft tissue damage to the vagina and the bladder or rectum, and usually result in stillbirth.
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