When you lose someone you love, you want their memory to last forever. Choosing to honor a loved one with a gift in memory to Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation is a powerful way to celebrate their life and cherish special memories while creating a legacy that will impact future generations. A bereavement gift can also be […]

Thanksgiving is a cherished American holiday and a time-honored tradition that centers around gratitude and sharing. Families and friends celebrate the spirit of togetherness, share a festive meal and reflect on the blessings of the past year. But families elsewhere in the world do not have as much to be thankful for. When a woman […]

Likelesh has called the hospital by the river her home for decades. Having suffered a devastating obstetric fistula injury when she was younger, she arrived at Hamlin’s Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital seeking treatment. But the love and support she found there completely changed the trajectory of her life. Born and raised in a rural village […]

In the third of our Clinical Conversations series, Tolera Adamu, Patient Identification Officer, explains how he finds women living with childbirth injuries in Ethiopia’s remote and rural communities. What is the most difficult part of your role? The challenging part is finding suspected obstetric fistula patients because there are many barriers: cultural and geographic. On […]

Hanan is proud to call herself a Hamlin Midwife. She recently graduated from the Hamlin College of Midwives with a BSc degree in Midwifery and has returned to her home state of Benishangul-Gumuz in northwestern Ethiopia. She is looking forward to serving the women in her community. We caught up with Hanan after her graduation ceremony […]

In the 2nd of our Clinical Conversations series, Dr Melaku Abriha, Medical Director at Hamlin’s Mekele Fistula Hospital, explains the psychological impact of obstetric fistula. How does obstetric fistula impact women emotionally? Around 41% of our patients suffer psychologically because of their obstetric fistula injury. This ranges from minor anxiety, to post traumatic stress disorder, […]

In the first of our Clinical Conversations series, Dr Yeshineh Demerew, Medical Director and Surgeon of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, answers the most common questions about obstetric fistula. What is obstetric fistula? A fistula is an abnormal communication between two or more organs in our body that don't normally connect, and usually takes the form of […]

Bizuyie is still unable to talk about the time she sustained a severe obstetric fistula injury 25 years’ ago. But we know her bladder was destroyed and the nerves in her legs were damaged, leaving her with difficulty walking and the need for a cane. Living in a remote village where no one knew what […]