Women’s Reproductive Health Outreach Project
Rukwa Region, Tanzania, October 2011

This October, the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic spearheaded a VVF repair along Lake Tanganyika, on the Tanzanian side in the southern region of Rukwa. About fifty percent of women treated were residents of the Nkasi District in Tanzania, and the other fifty percents were Congolese women from Moba Territory, DRC. We operated on about 50 women over a two-week period.

The outreach consisted of much more than surgical fistula repair, however. It addressed the entire lifecycle of Women’s Reproductive Health. We held prenatal screening clinics, as well as provided access to contraception and family planning for those who desired it, so that the actual number of women we treated was in the several hundreds. We also taught local providers how to recognize an early fistula injury and treat it early with simple, non-surgical methods, thereby preventing the progression of these injuries into permanent fistulae. We taught insertion techniques for various forms of contraception, as well as how to do accurate pelvic measurements and screen for women at risk for obstruction in labor.

At risk women identified in our prenatal screening, were given a care plan to insure that when they are close to their dues dates, they will be located near a facility were delivery assistance is available and where Caesarean section is also a possibility. In addition, psychosocial counseling and support was provided in partnership with the Women’s Promotion Centre based in Kigoma, Tanzania.

To carry out this outreach, the LTFHC upgraded the Kirando Health Centre in Nkasi District, Tanzania (where the outreach’s main operations were based), which is the main center to serve roughly 250,000 persons. Until this upgrade was performed, the Kirando Health Centre operated without running water and electricity.

We worked with several local Tanzanian providers, and the surgical team was led by Dr. Tom Raassen, a surgeon with 20 years of VVF repair experience working in Africa with AMREF, and who has received specialty training at the famous fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The team was based out of Kipili, Tanzania during the outreach. Registration and follow-up was carried out in partnership with the founding directors of the Primary Health Care Project Lake Tanganyika who are now employees of the LTFHC. All supplies were shipped by container and positioned at Kirando Health Centre. All women were registered in advance, and provided with appropriate follow up care. In addition, the LTFHC works with local communities, local business, provincial and national governments, to create long-term solutions for the region, as well as to collaborate on discrete outreach projects such as this.

We want to express our deepest appreciation for all those whose support made this program possible. In particular, we wish to acknowledge our partners, The Fistula Foundation, Hewlett Packard, and private donors for their generous contributions to our efforts.