The Worldwide Fistula Fund (an Illinois not-for-profit corporation) is a public charity organized for the purpose of supporting international medical education and research on the problem of obstetrical trauma in the developing world.  The Worldwide Fistula Fund is a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.  The Worldwide Fistula Fund was originally organized as The Worldwide Fund for Mothers Injured in Childbirth in 1995, and was subsequently reorganized under its new name as the Worldwide Fistula Fund in 2003.

The most serious form of childbirth trauma in developing countries is obstructed labor, which in turn leads to the development of obstetric fistulas.  Obstructed labor occurs when the mother’s pelvis is too small to permit the fetus to pass through during childbirth.  This problem cannot be resolved without a surgical operation (Cesarean section), which is unavailable  in many parts of the world, especially in Africa.  Because most pregnant women in these countries cannot get emergency obstetric care, they may be in labor for days, only to a deliver a stillborn infant at the end of their travail. 

Prolonged obstructed labor results in severe damage to the soft tissues of the mother’s pelvis from the unrelenting pressure of the fetal head which has been impacted against them during labor.   This process cuts off the blood supply to large parts of the mother’s vagina, bladder and rectum and results in the death of these tissues.  This in turn creates large holes (fistulas) between these organs and leads to constant, uncontrollable loss of urine and stool through the vagina. 

Unless they can get surgery, women with fistulas are doomed to a lifetime of nearly unendurable misery. 

            The goals of the Worldwide Fistula Fund are:

1.  To support the repair of obstetric fistulas at multiple surgical centers throughout Africa and other parts of the developing world where the problem is greatest.

2.  To improve access to curative surgical services for patients who have developed vesico-vaginal fistulas and to ensure that knowledge of fistula repair becomes part of the routine training of African obstetrician-gynecologists, urologists, and general surgeons;

3.  To improve the surgical techniques used in dealing with routine fistula cases and to develop new techniques for treating patients with complicated fistulas and the problems associated with them;

4.  To understand the social background of patients who develop vesico-vaginal fistulas and the cultural practices which permit the development of this condition;

5.  To develop educational programs for vesico-vaginal fistula patients who are waiting to undergo surgical repair and for those recovering after surgery that will:
a)   teach them to read or improve their literacy;
 b)  teach them skills that will allow them to earn a livelihood once they have been rehabilitated;
c)  facilitate their reintegration back into their society; and

6.  To develop education programs to improve traditional midwifery practices and change the beliefs that have promoted the development of vesico-vaginal fistulas in the past as part of an on-going grass-roots movement to aid the empowerment of African women regarding childbirth.
                       
            Contributions to the work of the Worldwide Fistula Fund are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Learn about our past activities on the History Page.

Board of Directors

L. Lewis Wall, M.D., D.Phil, Founder, President, and Managing Director of the Worldwide Fistula Fund.  Dr. Lewis Wall is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.  He also holds a joint appointment as Professor on Anthropology at Washington University.  Dr. Wall has carried out anthropological field research on traditional medicine in West Africa and has been active for many years in developing clinical and scientific projects related to maternal birth trauma in the region.

Steven D. Arrowsmith, MD, Vice-President for International Program Development.  Dr. Arrowsmith is a urologist in practice in Gallup, NM.  A former missionary surgeon, he organized and founded the vesicovaginal fistula center at Evangel Hospital in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.  Thereafter he served as Associate Medical Director of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia for three years prior to returning to the United States.  In addition to his work with the Worldwide Fistula Fund, Dr. Arrowsmith serves as the Vesicovaginal Fistula Program Coordinator for Mercy Ships, an international charitable medical organization headquartered in Tyler, TX.

Leonard A. Wall, MD practiced obstetrics and gynecology at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, MO, for 33 years prior to his retirement.  He has maintained an active interest in fistula work for many years and has traveled to Africa as a volunteer.

John F. Adams is a graduate of Princeton, Oxford, and the University of Chicago.  He is currently a partner in the law firm of Schiff Hardin LLP in Chicago

Benson F. Smith is an independent business consultant.  Formerly the Chief Operating Officer of the C.R. Bard Corporation, he has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Continence for many years.

Jean Campbell, RN, MS, lives and serves on the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest privately-operated hospital ship, Where Jean is Healthcare Manager.  The ship provides surgical services along the West African coast, including fistula repair operations.

Joshua Bogunjoko, MD: Dr. Bogunjoko trained in fistula surgery in Nigeria and went on to live an d practice in rural Niger.  He currently serves as Deputy International Director for Europe/West Africa with SIM International, one of the world's largest mission organizations.  SIM is a major partner in our WFF Fistula Center project.

Helen Wall: a graduate of Lanchester Polytechnic (Coventry, UK) and the University of Kansas has served as a mission volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).