Emaye - Summer 2022

Summer 2022

Ending fistula in Ethiopia. Forever. hamlinfistulauk.org

Welcome to our summer edition of Emaye, which

comes to you with our warmest thanks for your support.

As you know, our purpose is to provide funds and support to Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, based in Addis Ababa, and I am pleased to tell you that last year we were able to provide more funding than ever before to help end fistula in Ethiopia.

All treatments and services at Hamlin centres are provided free to patients and it is only because of your generous support that this is possible.

We are excited to share our new-look newsletter with you and inside you can read the inspiring stories of how your donations are put to good use by key medics like Tigist and how they change the lives of women like Emama.

Helen, our CEO, and I have recently returned from Addis Ababa where we met with our colleagues from Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia and our sister Hamlin charities from Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

This was the first time since 2019 that we have been able to meet in person and we were pleased to visit the hardworking staff, see the facilities and meet with patients.

We discussed plans for the coming year which include providing significantly more

surgeries to women in need, increasing the number of midwives we are able to train and making improvements to our facilities and equipment. Read more on page seven.

I hope you enjoy this issue and that you will be able to continue your life-changing support for some of the world’s poorest, most vulnerable women.

With all best wishes

Greg Morris

Chair, Hamlin Fistula UK

P.S. We hope you like our new-look newsletter, designed to improve accessibility and enable us to share more updates from Ethiopia with you, our supporters.

We welcome your feedback! Please email us at info@hamlinfistulauk.org.

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info@hamlinfistulauk.org 0121 559 3999 hamlinfistulauk.org

@HamlinFistulaUK @HamlinFistulaUK @hamlinfistula_uk

Hamlin Fistula UK is a registered Charity No. 1153053.

Registered as a Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales No. 08457433. Registered office at 4 Parade Buildings, Nimmings Road, Halesowen, B62 9JJ.

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Spotlight on

Pelvic Organ Prolapse Emama’s Story Did you know Hamlin hospitals offer surgery for a range of gynaecological conditions alongside obstetric fistula?

One of these is pelvic organ prolapse and last year we provided 652 of these life-changing surgeries to women in need.

Emama, 60, pictured below, recently received successful surgery at Hamlin’s Bahir Dar Hospital to treat a pelvic organ prolapse that she had suffered with for 10 years.

What is Pelvic organ prolapse?

She told us:

Pelvic organ prolapse is a gynaecological problem that can have a huge impact on a woman’s quality of life. A prolapse happens when one or more of the pelvic organs slip down from their normal position and into the vagina, causing a bulge.

If prolapse is left untreated, it can slowly get worse. In rare cases, severe prolapse can cause obstruction of the kidneys or even inability to pass urine which can result in infection or damage to the kidneys.

Prolapse can have a devastating impact on women’s lives.

The challenge in Ethiopia Prolapse affects women around the world, including the UK. However, across Africa there is a much higher number of women living with the condition and treatment can be difficult to access.

In Ethiopia, a combination of high fertility rates, early pregnancy, childhood malnutrition, a lack of access to maternal and women’s health care services and high levels of heavy physical work such as farming result in a growing level of need for improved treatment services.

“I felt ashamed to tell anyone what had happened, even my husband. I separated beds with him and tried to manage it by myself, but the problem has been my everyday worry for the past 10 years”.

Emama explained the free surgery she received from Hamlin has changed her life

“Thank you for curing me and giving me a happy ending to the rest of my life”.

How we are helping Treatment for prolapse, including surgery, can dramatically improve a woman’s health and quality of life.

In Ethiopia there has been little focus on improving public health services for prolapse and gynaecologists do not have access to updated surgery training and supplies. However, all six Hamlin hospitals offer pelvic organ prolapse treatment.

We can only do this with your generous support. Your help means more women like Emama will receive this vital treatment.

As a result, many of the patients who arrive at a Hamlin hospital present with advanced stage prolapse and complications.

Emama, pictured right, received successful surgery which gave her a new lease of life.

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Reaching Women in Rural Ethiopia Your support in action

When our founders, Drs Catherine and Reg Hamlin, arrived in Ethiopia over 60 years ago, they could not have imagined what they would go on to achieve for women across Ethiopia.

From humble beginnings at the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, Catherine and Reg founded the now world-renowned Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in 1974.

Over the years, Catherine realised the extent of the challenge of fistula in Ethiopia, and in response to this, went on to establish five regional fistula hospitals throughout Ethiopia to serve the millions of women living in isolated rural communities.

Obstetric fistula is a condition which disproportionately affects women in poor, remote, rural communities where maternal health services are hard to access. Although today Hamlin is supporting the training and deployment of midwives to government health clinics in the region, for many women living in remote areas, health clinics can still take many hours to walk to.

In these areas the majority of women will give birth at home, as is tradition, without a midwife or doctor present. This leads to a high incidence of obstetric fistula and other birth injuries. Women are left incontinent, humiliated and cut off from their communities. Hamlin’s regional hospitals provide a lifeline to these women.

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Changing lives in Southern Ethiopia One of Hamlin’s regional hospitals is Yirgalem Regional Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia’s southern Sidama region.

Established in 2006, Yirgalem Hospital is located 190 miles south of the capital Addis Ababa, a journey that takes about five hours by car on a narrow road that traverses the Great Rift Valley. The area served by the hospital is largely rural and most people rely on subsistence agriculture to survive. It’s a diverse area with many different cultures and languages found across the region.

Last year 277 surgeries were provided for women at Yirgalem, including treatment for obstetric fistula, pelvic organ prolapse and caesarean sections for past fistula patients to have safe deliveries.

The hospital team also works closely with community health centres staffed by Hamlin-trained midwives to provide pre-and post-natal support to women in the region.

Last year Hamlin midwives provided skilled delivery support for 8,294 births, all fistula free.

A warm welcome from a dedicated team

Exciting plans for Yirgalem

The hospital is managed by experienced public health professional Mr Amare Desta.

Specialist surgeon Dr Biniyam Sirak leads a team of nursing sisters, a pharmacist, anaesthetist, and nurses’ aides trained at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.

In the coming year we want to reach even more women in the Sidama and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s regions, and have set an ambitious goal to carry out over 600 surgeries at Yirgalem.

Head Nurse Sister Sara and her staff have an unwavering commitment to helping impoverished women in the area.

A dedicated group of administrative and support workers complete the team at the Yirgalem Regional Fistula Hospital.

As with all our hospitals, patients arriving at Yirgalem are welcomed with a comforting knitted blanket and nutritious food.

Following an assessment, a customised programme is developed for each patient that includes counselling, physiotherapy, surgical repair and rehabilitation.

For fistula patients, in most cases their injury can be repaired with a single life-changing surgery that can take just two hours. Women are able to return to their families and communities with their health, happiness and confidence restored.

To support this work, we will be welcoming a second experienced surgeon to the team and additional nurses and healthcare staff. We are also increasing our outreach activities so we can identify more women suffering with untreated fistula in rural areas and support them to access free treatment.

Thanks to your support, women in the Sidama region who have suffered devastating childbirth injuries have the hope of regaining a happy and healthy life.

“We are grateful for the supporters of Hamlin Fistula UK and their donations to support our work here at Yirgalem Regional Fistula Hospital. I want to say a big thank you and we hope you will continue your vital support.”

- Sister Sara

Hamlin’s Mehele Fistula Hospital

Hamlin’s Bahir Dar Fistula Hospital

Hamlin’s Mettu Fistula Hospital

Hamlin’s Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital

Hamlin’s Yirgalem Fistula Hospital

Hamlin’s Harar Fistula Hospital

Hamlin Fistula’s regional hospitals provide a lifeline to rural women.

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Hamlin Health Heroes Meet Tigist Debebe

Meet Tigist Debebe, Lead Nurse of Hamlin’s Stoma Clinic A stoma can offer a lifeline for women with severe fistula injuries. For some women, fistula can result in extensive damage to their bladder or lower urinary tract which sadly is not always possible to cure. For these women, the offer of diversion surgery – to provide them with a urostomy (stoma) bag – can enable them to begin the journey to getting their lives back.

Tigist Debebe has worked at Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia for 11 years and is Lead Nurse for Hamlin’s Stoma Clinic, located at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.

Tigist and her team are responsible for managing all aspects of supporting patients that may require a stoma before, and after, their surgery, working closely with Hamlin’s Diversion Surgeon Dr Wondwossen. Tigist explains to patients before surgery what is going to happen and helps teach and support them on how to adapt to life with a stoma.

As part of the process Tigist often counsels the families of patients, which can make a really big difference when a patient returns home.

She told us what inspires her most in her work is seeing patients’ lives transformed after they come to the clinic:

“Some patient’s stomas are shorter term, and some are life-long. All patients in our care receive counselling and follow-ups at the clinic after their surgery from my team. Hamlin also supports long-term patients in receiving ongoing follow up by providing transportation to and from the hospital”.

Tigist has years of experience working in government and private hospitals as well as other charitable organisations before joining Hamlin and is keen to continue her own development having recently gained a Master’s degree in Public Health and Nutrition.

She told us:

“Serving the most injured women with obstetric fistula is physically, mentally and socially more than just a job: it is a part of something bigger. Dr Catherine Hamlin shared her vision and I learnt from her to work and help the injured women with compassion and love.

That’s why I’ve stayed in this post for the longest period in my working life.”

Did you know?

A stoma bag is a small, waterproof pouch used to collect waste from the body. On average a patient living with stoma will need 10 bags a month.

It costs £19 per patient for a month’s supply of stoma bags.

This year we are working to supply stoma bags to an estimated 372 women across all Hamlin hospitals.

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Postcard from

Addis Ababa Our CEO Helen Marriott and Chair Greg Morris travelled to Ethiopia in July to join leaders from our sister Hamlin charities from around the world for Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia’s annual meeting. Here Helen shares a snapshot of the visit and Hamlin’s exciting plans to provide life changing health services for even more women across the country.

I landed at Addis Ababa’s Bole airport early morning after a smooth trip from London and as I left the terminal and walked into the crisp morning air was met warmly by one of our Ethiopian colleagues. This was my first trip to Ethiopia since I joined Hamlin in 2020 and it was a real privilege to finally have the opportunity to meet the dedicated staff, chat to patients, see the facilities and be introduced to this beautiful country.

We headed straight to the Hamlin College of Midwives where I joined student’s families and friends, together with leaders of our international sister Hamlin charities to attend the graduation ceremony for Hamlin midwives class of 2022.

It was a joyful ceremony, led by Sister Konjit, Dean of the College, celebrating the achievements of these amazing young women who are now preparing to go out into rural communities across Ethiopia.

They will deliver family planning services and skilled healthcare for women during pregnancy and labour - preventing fistulas and saving lives.

I then had a tour of Desta Mender, our rehabilitation centre for longer-term patients. Set in beautiful, rural surroundings I met and talked to women recovering from fistula repair surgery who generously shared their experiences.

Women at Desta Mender receive counselling and skills training that enables them to return to their families with renewed confidence and the ability to earn a living.

All of them had a colourful knitted blanket around their shoulders and they expressed their gratitude to our knitters in the UK for the hard work that had gone into them!

The next two days were spent with staff from Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia and our sister Hamlin charities, discussing the exciting plans for the coming year. We heard about plans to expand the facilities at the College of Midwives, to upgrade vital equipment at Yirgalem Regional Fistula Hospital and other centres and to reach even more women living with untreated fistula through patient identification activities.

My trip highlighted the ort positive impact your supp is having on women in Ethiopia - treating and ving preventing fistula and sa lives.

All this work will take usof a step closer to our goal ending fistula in Ethiopia forever.

Best Wishes, Helen 7

Leave a gift in your Will and help end fistula in Ethiopia. Forever.

At Hamlin Fistula UK we are committed to ensuring Dr Catherine Hamlin’s vision to eradicate obstetric fistula in Ethiopia becomes a reality.

You too can leave a lasting legacy to help end fistula and finish what Catherine started. After providing for your family and loved ones please consider remembering us with a gift in your Will and ensure future generations of women live fistula free.

If you’d like more information Please contact Helen: Email Phone

helen@hamlinfistulauk.org 0121 559 3999

“This place will go on for many, many years until we have eradicated fistula altogether – until every woman in Ethiopia is assured of a safe delivery and a live baby.” - Dr Catherine Hamlin hamlinfistulauk.org