UNFPA, Bauchi Govt. organise free VVF repair camp

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Bauchi State Ministry of Health, organised a four-day free Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) repair camp at Gamawa General Hospital.

The VVF repair camp in Gamawa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, also in collaboration with Fistula Foundation Nigeria (FFN), is funded by the Canadian Government, under the Global Affairs Canada Gender-Based Violence/Harmful Traditional Practices (GBV/HTP) project.

The Director of FFN, Mr Musa Isa, said on Tuesday that 42 patients had been mobilised from different communities in the state and 24 had already been screened for the surgery.

He added that while surgery was in progress, being the first day of the exercise, one of the patients that would undergo the theatre was a nine-year-old girl with leaking urine as a result of rape.

Isa said that two other patients that would undergo the surgery were victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), aged 11 and 14 years, while two of the patients, aged 16 and six years had been living with congenital fistula.

The director, therefore, urged women and girls living with the condition from any part of the country to come forward and register at the Gamawa General Hospital in Bauchi State for the surgery to solve the problem.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that VVF is an abnormal opening between the bladder and the vagina that results in continuous and unremitting urinary incontinence.

The condition can be caused by prolonged labour during child birth, rape or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), among others.