Caleb Onwe
Abuja
A humanitarian organisation, ActionAid Nigeria ( AAN) has unveiled a 20-bed Vesicovaginal Fistula ( VVF) centre in Gwarinpa General Hospital, Abuja, said to have gulped about N51.5million Naira.
The VVF centre said to have been designed to address medical complications among women and girls, reportedly due to rising cases of girl-child and early marriage, is also reputated as the first in FCT.
The Country Director of AAN, Andrew Mamedu, at the launch on Thursday disclosed that the need to salvage over 2 million women living with severe VVF was the motivating factor behind the organisation’s establishment of the centre.
He noted that more worrisome was the report that 50, 00,000 new cases of VVF were emerging annually, and unfortunately, only 3,000 of such cases get the deserved attention and medical care.
According to him,” Nigeria ranks
third globally in child marriage rates, bears witness to consequences disrupted education, increased vulnerability to violence, an opportunities for personal fulfillment.
He said despite this staggering burden, access to comprehensive VVF services remained inadequate stating that with only 18 government approved VVF centers nationwide and none in the FCT until today, countless women have suffered in silence, their agony exacerbated by prolonged waits and inadequate care.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, who was represented by the Director/Head Reproductive Health Division of the Ministry, Lawrence Anyanwu said the establishment of the VVF was a huge milestone in the fight against morbidity in women and girls in Nigeria.
He disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has over the years been implementing policies aimed at reducing the cases of VVF and also in rehabilitation of the patients wherever they may be in the country.
Also, the Medical Director of Gwarinpa General Hospital, Moriamo Shaibu lamented that over 80% of the cases being handled in Abuja, where patients who didn’t know where to access care, and referral had previously being given to them to Jos, Bauchi, Katsina and other centres.
She equally disclosed that the newly inaugurated VVF centre has brought the total numbers of such centres to 20 in Nigeria.
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