From Trauma to Rehabilitation and Reintegration:Experiences of Women Facing the Challenges of Obstetric Fistula in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Obstetric Fistula causes considerable damage to the lives of women in the developing world. This medical complication is mostly a problem of the poor and the powerless. Interestingly, despite the vast array of published reports on the medical aspects of the complication, no traceable work has been done on the post treatment psychosocial and economic situations of the victims. In this research the post treatment lived experiences of six women with fistula were analyzed. A. Sen‟s and M. Nussbaum‟s capability approach were used as the theory through which to view the problem, the situation of these six women pretreatment, during treatments and post-treatment. In addition, little attention is given to those women who have received treatment from the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and reintegrated into society while still suffering from the psychosocial and economical consequences of stigmatization and discrimination. This paper tries to qualitatively investigate such neglect for it has significantly contributed to the consequential underestimation in the development of policies and strategies to address the problem. The study also sees these experiences from the feminist stand point and employs further investigation techniques using aspects of intersectionality and other factors based on the highlights of information generated from the perception of the issues of fistula as discussed by the society and media. Thus, this paper argues that exclusion and stigmatization by society worsen the psychosocial and economic challenges of reintegration for victims after treatment. In addition to broadening the knowledge base on OF, the paper sets salient policy interventions sought to alleviate the challenges of rehabilitation and reintegration of victims.