Reps. Maloney, Honda Co-Sponsoring Legislation That Would Provide Funds to UNFPA's 'End Fistula' Campaign

Via the Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report:

Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Michael Honda (D-Calif.) are co-sponsoring legislation that would provide funding to the United Nations Population Fund's "End Fistula" campaign, the Washington Times reports (Zieminski, Washington Times, 6/17).

Obstetric fistula develops when a fetus becomes lodged during labor in the narrow birth canal of a girl or young woman, causing pressure that blocks the flow of blood to vital tissues and tearing holes in the bowel, urethra or both, causing incontinence. Physicians can repair a small fistula surgically in less than two hours, but repairing a larger fistula and restoring a woman's continence sometimes requires more than one surgery. UNFPA's "End Fistula" campaign is a worldwide project that is working in more than 40 countries to eradicate the condition by 2015 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/18).