[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”78236″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]There’s no doubt that Covid has affected all our lives in different ways. But can you imagine the impact on those living in poverty? With no ability to lockdown, the pandemic has left many people suffering and living in misery. Even the most basic of health conditions go untreated.
Dr. Andrew Browning is based in Africa and is a world expert in Obstetric Fistula surgery. He operates on women with the debilitating condition resulting from obstructed childbirth. His new book is called ‘A Doctor in Africa’, and he joined us on 20Twenty to share his experiences of the impact poverty has on health care.
It is estimated that over 2 million women are living with untreated obstetric fistula in Africa. On his last trip, Andrew treated 199 patients over six weeks across four countries. He now has 68 trainees across Africa and Southeast Asia. Collectively they are treating about 20,000 fistula patients a year.
Andrew hears some harrowing stories of what women are going through during childbirth. “One lady was in labour for two days and her village was cut off by conflict. She had to get a motorbike to get to the nearest road, which was five hours away.”
“She dodged the conflict to get to an area where the ambulance could be called, but the ambulance had run out of fuel. She then had to get on another motorbike to a town 50 kilometres away to make the ambulance journey.”
When she finally made it to the hospital, both she and the baby were close to death. It was a miracle they managed to survive. But by the time she got back on the motorbike to go home to her village the fighting had robbed her family of all their animals. She went home to nothing. It’s extraordinarily difficult what these people are going through.
“We are able to provide people with food and prevent them from starving,” says Andrew. “We also provide them with healthcare. And we do it all in the name of Christ and the compassion Christ has for these people.”
Fistula happens to about 5% of women anywhere in the world. But women in Africa deliver at home, so if they’re in obstructed labour in the village, there’s no medical care. Sometimes they deliver a stillborn child, and when they do, they find they’re leaking uncontrollably from the bladder and the bowel through what’s called a fistula.
“The baby’s head crushes all the tissue between the bladder and the birth canal, causing a huge fistula,” says Andrew. “These women are then ostracized, and many of them try and commit suicide. So it’s very important that we find them and treat them. But more importantly, we are building maternity hospitals and enabling them to deliver for free, with safe medical care.”
This terrible condition has been completely eradicated in Western countries, but there are many thousands of women presenting with fistulas every day in Africa. But God has blessed Andrew and his team at the Barbara May Foundation with provisions to build three new maternity hospitals. One in Uganda, another in Tanzania and one in Ethiopia.
“We are very grateful to God that around $200 Australian dollars will provide an entire delivery package,” Andrew says. “Four clinic visits during pregnancy, ultrasounds and blood tests, delivery in the hospital, post-delivery check-ups and the baby’s immunizations all for $200. This will have a huge impact on the lives of women around the world.”
Andrew says that through it all God reveals Himself as sovereign. “The Lord has given me the skills,” he says. “I do it in His service. Prayers are answered, wisdom is provided and sorrow is turned to joy.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title_align=”separator_align_left” border_width=”3″ title=”Read More”][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” style=”load-more” max_items=”10″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1644389955526-7fa4bfb4-04e4-9″ taxonomies=”742″ items_per_page=”3″ btn_title=”Load more”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
