report of the rapid assessment of vesico-vaginal fistulae in nigeria

to begging or prostitution for survival. No wonder some wished they had died inlabor. VVF is often referred to as ‘the most dreadful affliction of mankind.’VVF is considered a major public health problem in Nigeria, with the prevalencerate on the increase because of rising poverty and declining quality of maternalcare. However, since the national safe motherhood conference in Nigeria in 1990,the problem of maternal mortality has been placed on the national agenda, but verylittle has been done to address the problem of VVF. Whatever efforts at redressingthe problem has so far remained limited in scope, coverage and uncoordinated,with most of the interventions initially being spearheaded by NGOs, notably theNF-VVF and NCWS. Some State governments and lately the Federal Governmenthave began to make inputs in responding to the VVF concerns in the country.Some of the major constraints to articulation of a national response have been thedearth of information on the magnitude and distribution of the problem, resourceavailability for intervention, the actors in the field and their areas of input and gapsin current interventions.In recent times there has been an increasing Federal Government interest in theproblem of VVF, notably, the Presidency and the Federal Ministries of Health andWomen Affairs and Youth Development. A National Committee was constitutedby the FMOH to develop a national strategic plan of action to address to VVFproblem in the country. In recognition of the information gaps on the national VVFsituation, the National Foundation on VVF was assigned the responsibility of carryout a rapid assessment of VVF in Nigeria, in the quest to provide relevant data toassist in the national VVF planning effort.6