Living Testimony: Obstetric Fistula and Inequities in Maternal Health (Advocacy Toolkit)

Obstetric fistula is an injury to the birth canal, resulting from prolonged labour, that has devastating physical and psychological effects on women’s lives. Its persistence reveals vast inequities in access to and quality of reproductive health care.

Living Testimony: Obstetric Fistula and Inequities in Maternal Health brings together the voices of women from 29 countries in Africa, the Arab States, and Asia, who speak out about life with obstetric fistula. Their families, community members, and health care providers share knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives on pregnancy, delivery, and fistula.

This advocacy toolkit, produced by Family Care International and UNFPA in 2007, is available in English and French. It aims to provide guidance and tools to conduct advocacy for improving maternal health, and highlights how perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes related to pregnancy and delivery affect maternal mortality and morbidity, including obstetric fistula.