Fistula Champions

Fistula Care has identified numerous Fistula Champions, people who have played a major role in addressing obstetric fistula, including prevention efforts, in their communities. Fistula Champions come from many different backgrounds but are all leaders in ensuring that women living with fistula and those at risk receive the care they need from trained providers across a continuum of services from prevention to repair to rehabilitation.

		Professor Dame Tina Lavender leads the Midwifery and Women’s Health program at the University of Manchester, a research program which centers on the prevention of prolonged labor, with emphasis on use of the partograph.
		Nurses and midwives are drawn to help women with fistula. Many have experienced childbirth themselves, and almost all have had the experience of seeing women in their own communities suffer complications in childbirth.  To celebrate their work, we talked with a number of nurse-midwives who work on obstetric fistula.
		Dr. Dolorès Nembunzu is an obstetrician-gynecologist and fistula surgeon at St Joseph’s Hospital in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). To her clients, she is better known as maman (mother), demonstrative of the warmth and empathy she brings to her role as a doctor and an advocate for women living with obstetric fistula.
		Dr. John Kelly has provided care to more than 9,000 women and has had a tremendous impact on countless others through his role as a trainer.
		Mrs. Mariama Moussa is the dedicated coordinator of Niger’s Network to Eradicate Fistula (REF), a project that coordinates the activities of nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and community groups.
		Dr. Sita Millimono strives to bring fistula treatment, education and care to different communities across Guinea.
		Dr. Alyona Lewis is the only national fistula surgeon providing routine obstetric fistula repairs in all of Sierra Leone. Based at the Aberdeen Women’s Centre in Freetown, Dr. Lewis and her team transform the lives of hundreds of women each year.
		Her Excellency Mrs. Josephine Elechi, First Lady of Ebonyi State, has worked tirelessly to advance fistula programming in Nigeria.
		Mayor Paul Keita of Kissidougou, Guinea is vital to fistula prevention and treatment efforts in Guinea.