Fistula Foundation

Fistula Foundation is the largest private charitable organization not taking government money supporting fistula treatment globally. We help women in low income countries throughout Africa and Asia who have been injured during childbirth.

Obstetric fistula, the most devastating and serious of all childbirth injuries, has been labeled the “most frightful affliction of humankind.” Many people don't even know about it, perhaps because it was virtually eradicated in the U.S. more than 100 years ago thanks to emergency Caesarean section surgery.

Fistula is a serious problem in the world’s poorest countries, where most mothers give birth without any medical help. If her labor is obstructed and childbirth fails, a woman’s body is literally broken by childbirth, leaving her incontinent and suffering constantly. Too often, her life is devastated, and she lives her life as an outcast.