Leaking Wounds: When women leak urine and faecal matter

Inside a small local clinic in one of Ghana’s poorest districts doctors are performing a delicate caesarian section on a woman in desperate need.

At this health facility in the Bawku District of the Upper East Region, doctors are few and are almost always under pressure.

The woman who we choose to call Rabina is a lucky expectant mother; many of her counterparts deliver at tender ages and at home. When there are complications, fistula can be the result.

In many parts of northern Ghana, girls are married off during their teenage years. Most of these tender mothers encounter complications during childbirth. Fistula is one of the many complications they may suffer.

The complication results in women leaking urine and faecal matter; they lose complete control.

In the Joy News Hotline documentary Leaking Wounds, Justice Baidoo explores the struggles of the thousands of women in Ghana living with this nightmare.

Childbirth in many parts of Ghana could be a risky affair. In a country where close to 400 deaths are recorded in every 100,000 live births, giving forth to life, could prove a life death gamble. The full documentary by Justice Baidoo is attached.

The documentary airs on Joy FM on Thursday at 8:30am.