‘Nigeria Records 20,000 VVF Cases Annually’

Nigeria records a total of

20,000 fresh cases of Vasco Vaginal Fistula (VVF) annually, 90 per cent of which are untreated.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Dr Precious Gbeneol made this known at the closing ceremony of VVF training programme for 22 doctors and 32 nurses at the Babar Ruga VVF entre in Katsina recently.

He said that the country had the highest prevalence of VVF in the world with about 400,000 to 800,000 women living with the disease.

She, however, attributed the ugly trend to inadequate and unequal distribution of VVF experts among others factors.

Gbeneol expressed the need for intensified training of more doctors and nurses to handle the treatment of VVF patients in the country.

According to her, there are 13 centres currently in Nigeria offering surgical care to about 4,000 VVF patients per year to reduce the unacceptable high rate of maternal morbidity.

“It is against this backdrop that the MDGs office in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health have agreed to embark on this training since the available hospital data has shown that VVF cases are prevalent in the country,” she said.

Gbeneol explained that the objectives of the training was to improve the capacity of indigenous doctors and nurses on VVF repair across the country and to update them on the best practices in general management of the disease.

While commending the government and people of the state for their passion and interest in curbing the VVF prevalence in the state, she also urged the trainees to adequately use the skills and knowledge they acquired during the training toward effective management of VVF cases.

She advised all stakeholders, including development partners in the heath sector, to support VVF programme in the country in order to save the lives of women.

Earlier, the wife of the state Governor, Hajiya Fatima Shema said the problem of VVF in the country had become a serious issue that could not be ignored, hence the need for high level advocacy by stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels to assist in reducing its prevalence.

She also called for an extension of the advocacy programme into the neighbouring Niger Republic as many of their women were also being infected by the disease and did attend the VVF Centre in Katsina for treatment.