A Heroic Doctor, a Global Scourge

By Nicholas Kristof
My Sunday column is about obstetric fistula, a horrendous childbirth injury that rarely gets attention or treatment because the victims are the most voiceless of the voiceless. Dr. Lewis Wall, the hero of the column, taught me about fistulas years ago, and so I’ve been writing about them periodically since my first column on the topic back in 2002.

For years, I’ve watched with admiration as Dr. Wall has persevered to try to build a fistula hospital in West Africa — and I’m thrilled that he is now fulfilling his dream. Those who want to help his Niger hospital can support his organization, the Worldwide Fistula Fund; tax-deductible donations to the hospital are possible right on the site, so please don’t send any money in my direction. For now the surgeries in Niger will be done in the existing leprosy hospital there, and he still needs significant sums to construct the new fistula wing beside it.

There’s another great fistula organization, the Fistula Foundation, that supports the Addis Ababa hospital and other places such as the remarkable Edna Adan maternity hospital in Somaliland.

Above all, I hope that we go even further and eradicate fistula globally. In the column, I mention Dr. Wall’s careful 12-year $1.5 billion proposal (written with Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute) to eradicate fistula. It’s also an effort to tackle maternal mortality; my sense is that fistula may be the best way to get traction for maternal health.

I’m hoping that the Obama administration will endorse this plan, and that more members of Congress will line up behind it. Those women with fistulas are the lepers of our time, and it’s unconscionable to turn away when we can repair those fistulas so easily. So if you want to help, spread the word about that plan as well.

I also give a plug to this global fistula plan in my new book, written with Sheryl WuDunn. And for those who want to read more about fistula,
one of my most-read columns ever was about the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, and the extraordinary Dr. Catherine Hamlin — who has dedicated her life to overcoming fistula and deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. I’ve also made videos of the fistula hospital and of Mamitu, an extraordinary surgeon there who never went to school.