Correlates of obstetric fistula among women who have ever given birth in Uganda

Abstract

Introduction: This study focused on risk factors of obstetric fistula in relation to its prevalence on women who have ever given birth of reproductive age before and after pregnancy in comparison of health care and services to them. Obstetric fistula has serious consequences that require long term integration strategies to control for a better quality of life lived by women and girls in Uganda even after having a successful fistula repair. Methods: This study used UDHS 2016, where all women aged 15-49 were eligible to the interview and recoded v138 for the interview which was complete and performed data analysis with STATA package through which independent variables were examined for their significance at all levels of analysis that is Uni-variate, Bi-variate and Multi-variate analysis which out was categorically a yes or no experience to obstetric fistula. Results: The prevalence of obstetric fistula among women of reproductive age who report to have experienced symptoms of fistula is 1% where 1,018 women answered yes to obstetric fistula experience from 57,906 observations with 82% in rural areas and how education, place of residence and age at first birth are important determinants of fistula variations in Uganda. Conclusion: This provides strategies and recommendations of various studies in creating awareness among expected vulnerable women to obstetric fistula due to poverty, gender based violence, stigma and geographical locations in places in different Sub-regions as well as the country at large.