Dr. Maureen Okango is an obstetric fistula surgeon from Kenya. She is a is a young, vibrant consultant obstetrician & gynaecologist. Maureen is passionate about maternal and newborn care. She is a new graduate of the fellowship of fistula surgery and an Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care trainer. She’s a principle master trainer of integrated antenatal and postnatal care as well as quality improvement, as well as a Ministry of Health trainer on screening for cervical cancer for precancerous lesions.
Maureen has served as a trainer and mentor in The Vihiga County Referral Hospital and the wider Vihiga county. Through her work, she supports health care providers in other health facilities through training, mentorship and support supervision.
In this episode, Maureen talks about her work and she shares her stories of working with women who’ve suffered an obstetric fistula. Maureen Okango shares so much hope and inspiration.
Obstetric fistula is a devastating childbirth injury due to prolonged labor – and causes physical, psychological, emotional and social trauma. The injury is preventable with access to maternal health services and emergency obstetric care – and it is treatable through surgery.
Fistula leaves a woman incontinent, leaking urine or feces and often shunned from her family and community. The injury occurs during labor and the woman often loses her baby in the process.
Fistula Foundation, a leader in funding the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula, estimates that at least one million women in Africa and Asia needlessly suffer from untreated fistula.
Learn more about Obstetric Fistula and consider donating to support the work of fistula surgeons like Maureen at fistulafoundation.org.
