EngenderHealth’s USAID-supported fistula prevention and repair efforts in Mozambique began in December 2017 and continued until January 2021. In Mozambique, FC+ worked to institutionalize fistula prevention and treatment in the public and private sectors by developing critical national and facility policies and guidelines and supporting allocation of resources for fistula prevention and treatment.
Specifically, FC+ partnered with Focus Fistula, a Mozambican NGO. Thanks to USAID support, FC+ has become Focus
Fistula’s largest donor. Led by Dr. Igor Vaz, an internationally renowned general surgeon, urologist, and gynecological
specialist who heads the Surgery Department of the Hospital Central de Maputo, Focus Fistula aims to end obstetric fistula by providing treatment to women with fistula; developing institutional and treatment capacity; mobilizing resources; facilitating international and national partnerships; and coordinating fistula activities within Mozambique. The goal of FC+’s partnership with Focus Fistula was to build the clinical capacity of selected public and private facilities and staff to provide accessible, quality obstetric, iatrogenic, and traumatic fistula surgical and nonsurgical treatment services.
Mozambique Resources
Fistula Care Plus: Mozambique- Strengthening Health Systems to Prevent and Treat Fistula EngenderHealth’s USAID-supported fistula prevention and repair efforts in Mozambique began in December 2017 and continued until January 2021. Fistula is a devastating morbidity, with profound social consequences for those affected. In Mozambique, FC+ supported fistula repairs and fistula prevention through organizational and clinical capacity building as well as community
outreach and education. The project strengthened systems for providing safe surgery including building capacity for routine fistula repair, increasing community awareness, integrating family planning (FP) services within fistula and maternal healthcare, and training clinicians. FC+ provided support to nine health facilities for fistula prevention and treatment services.
FC+ End of Project Report Summary Operating in seven countries—Bangladesh (2013-2020), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC: 2014 -2021), Mozambique (2017-2021), Niger (2013-2021), Nigeria (2014-2018), Togo (2014), and Uganda (2014-2019) — FC+ focused on five objectives:
1. Strengthening the enabling environment to institutionalize fistula services in the public and private sectors.
2. Enhancing community understanding and practices to prevent fistula, improve access to treatment, reduce stigma and
support reintegration.
3. Reducing transportation, communications, and financial barriers to care.
4. Strengthening provider and health facility capacity to provide and sustain quality services.
5. Strengthening the evidence base to improve fistula care and scale up application of standard M&E indicators for prevention and treatment.
Fistula Care Plus: Key Achievements and the Way Forward to End Fistula (English PDF, French PDF) Fistula Care Plus (FC+) was a global project initiated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by EngenderHealth from December 2013 to March 2021. Building on work undertaken by the previous Fistula Care project (2007 to 2013), FC+ supported activities in 1,171 facilities (54 fistula treatment sites and prevention sites and 1,117 prevention-only sites) in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Uganda. The data presented in this brief covers these time periods
Fistula Care Plus: Summary of Repair Case Profiles and Outcomes FC+ collected routine client data on surgical and nonsurgical fistula repairs at all project-supported fistula treatment sites through 1.) aggregate facility data, reported on a quarterly basis by treatment sites and entered into a project-developed DHIS2 platform for data storage and analysis and 2.) individual client data collected at a subset of 27 project-supported facilities in four countries. Through these mechanisms, FC+ and project-supported facilities were able to routinely monitor and act upon identified clinical trends at the facility, country, and global levels. This brief summarizes routine, aggregated, and anonymous global and country project data on demand for and provision of fistula repair services and illustrates client profiles including the causes of clients’ fistula, fistula types, surgical outcomes, and family planning (FP) preferences and uptake.
For more learnings from Mozambique and other FC+ countries, visit our Resources section.