In 2008, Dame Ann Gloag DBE, a former nurse and co-founder of the Stagecoach transport company, set up Freedom From Fistula (FFF) (www.freedomfromfistula.org.uk) to help women and girls in Africa who are injured in childbirth and left suffering from obstetric fistula - a condition that leaves them incontinent, often abandoned by their families and condemned to a life of shame, isolation and despair.
There are an estimated 2 million women and girls across Africa suffering from obstetric fistula.
FFF now operates in Sierra Leone, Malawi and Madagascar and provides free surgeries to heal fistulas; free and accessible maternity care; children's outpatient clinics and training for nurses, midwives and doctors.
Since 2008, FFF has
Undertaken more than 8,500 fistula surgeries
Delivered more than 20,000 babies
Offered care to more than 130,000 children
Rotary Clubs have offered invaluable support, in particular securing Global Grants to fund the training of 60 Nurse Midwife Technicians in Malawi and the purchase of 2 Landcruisers.
A key Area of Focus for Rotary is Maternal & Child Health. Working in partnership with FFF, Rotarians can save and transform the lives of women and children. FFF operates the Aberdeen Women's Centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone where every year the Charity:
Performs around 250 fistula surgeries
Delivers up to 3000 babies
Treats up to 20,000 children in the Children's Outpatient Clinic
Provides family planning services to all patients
Trains healthcare doctors, nurses and midwives
Provides literacy & numeracy classes, as well as health education & skills training
Every penny raised really makes a difference:
£5.00 pays for one consultation at the Children's Outpatient Clinic
£50.00 pays for literacy & numeracy classes for one patient
£100.00 pays for one safe birth
£1000.00 pays for two life changing fistula surgeries
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
