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Meet Khadiza

 Khadiza is from a settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh where she lives with her husband and four children. At age 22 she noticed a swelling gradually developing in her neck. It eventually became difficult for her to swallow and eat properly. As her health began to deteriorate, family members became alarmed – but she couldn’t access the medical care she needed. 

Khadiza suffered from this condition for seven years!  Finally, she was admitted to a public hospital four hours away and received a Thyroidectomy. The procedure cured her difficulty swallowing, but unfortunately led to intermittent convulsions. Her condition continued to get worse, until seizures severely impacted her quality of life.  She was unable to care for herself, much less her family. 

Waiting another seven years before receiving appropriate treatment would have likely been her fate.  But fortunately, she found HOPE Hospital, where she was told they could care for her regardless of her ability to pay. HOPE is a maternal health hospital staffed primarily by OB/GYNs and general practitioners - but due to the partnership with World Telehealth Initiative (WTI), they have access to many additional medical specialists.

The local medical team immediately knew this case required a telehealth consultation with Dr. Joseph Clemente, an internal medicine specialist from New Jersey. Dr. Clemente diagnosed her with a Hypocalcemic Tetany and prescribed her with a required course of medications. With the appropriate treatment, Khadiza regained her health and has returned to the life she enjoyed before her medical complications started many years ago. She is just one example of the many patients exposed to transformational healthcare that WTI programs make accessible.

 
 

Meet Esperanza

This is sweet Esperanza. She is 19 years old and lives in Malawi with her husband. When it came time for her to deliver her first child, she began to labor at home. On the second day of labor, it was evident she needed to go to the clinic.

She couldn't afford to hire a car to transport her, so her only option was to hire a bicycle. For six hours, while Esperanza was in active labor, she sat on a tiny bike seat, on a bumpy road, en route to the clinic.

When she arrived, the clinicians were able to provide her with pain medication but were unable to do much more because they did not have the training or facilities to perform a C-section. She endured an obstructed labor for two more days, and eventually delivered a stillborn baby.

Due to the trauma suffered over an extended labor, Esperanza developed a double obstetric fistula. A fistula is an injury that occurs from a prolonged labor that damages the tissues in such a way that the woman is often left with lifelong complications, such as incontinence.

In Malawi, resources are limited and most women with fistulas do not have access to products or supplies to keep themselves sanitary. Often times, due to the odor from these complications, women are ostracized from their communities, are abandoned by their husbands, and are unable to work. Esperanza and more than 2 million other women in Africa have suffered from obstetric fistulas (World Health Organization).

However, thanks to our program in Lilongwe, Malawi, Esperanza was able to receive fistula repair surgery and reclaim her life. Our program in Malawi provides many women, like Esperanza, with transformational surgery, so they may return to society again as healthy, productive women.

We are supporting the Fistula Care Clinic at Bwaila Hospital in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine by providing surgical expertise in order to build the capacity of local healthcare providers. Through our program, fistula surgery experts mentor local physicians through complicated procedures via telehealth. Over time, the local physicians in Malawi have improved their surgical skills and have been able to perform more and more fistula surgeries independently. The growing independence of local physicians speaks to the sustainability of our programs.