Abstract
Obstetric fistula (OF) is a maternal morbidity affecting women in Ghana and although the precise prevalence is unknown, it is estimated that between 500 and 1000 new cases are diagnosed annually. OF affects a woman’s physical, psychological, and sexual health as well as their social and economic status. The approach to OF care is threefold: educational awareness, treatment (surgery), and community reintegration. Reintegration is concerned with assisting women to reconnect with the life they lived prior to having OF. In this chapter, an ethnographic design was used to critically explore the needs and the challenges affecting women in northern Ghana as they resume their cultural, social, familial, spousal, and economic day-to-day lives following an OF repair. The research identifies practice implications for healthcare providers and emphasizes that developing awareness about the needs and challenges of women post-OF is an important step forward in creating social and political change in OF care/reintegration.
The material used in this chapter was adapted from the dissertation Jarvis, K. (2016). An exploration of a culture of reintegration with women who have experienced obstetrical fistula repair in northern Ghana, West Africa. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta]. ProQuest Dissertations.
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Notes
- 1.
Jürgen Habermas (b. 1929) is a German sociologist and philosopher whose academic work has focused on foundations of social theory, epistemology, the rule of law in the social-evolutionary context, and critical analysis of democracy and advanced capitalism. The roots of his postulates lie in the traditions of German philosophy from Kant to Marx, and he has been associated with the Frankfurt school of critical theorists. Habermas’ Critical Theory has some features in common with the beliefs of Karl Marx; however, they differ in other opinions.
- 2.
The Ashanti region is located in south Ghana and is the third largest of the country’s ten administrative regions. The Ashanti people are a matrilineal ethnic group native to the Asante region of Ghana. Their ethnic language, Twi, is a common name for two former mutually unintelligible dialects, Asante and Akuapem, and is spoken by approximately nine million persons as either a first or second language.
- 3.
In Ghana, an outdooring is a celebration in which a baby is brought outside for the first time, typically around eight days after birth.
- 4.
In West Africa, the juju man is a practitioner of juju (from the French, joujou, or plaything). JuJu is a traditional spiritual belief system that incorporates religious spells and objects, such as amulets, as part of witchcraft. They also have a knowledge of the medicinal use of local plants and herbs.
- 5.
The Dagaaba ethnic group are a people residing at the convergence of the countries of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire. They speak a Gur language, termed Dagaare.
- 6.
CHNs were introduced in Ghana to deliver health care in deprived rural areas. CHNs in Ghana are professionally trained in a two-year certificate or three-year nursing diploma and are responsible for such activities as health promotion, community mobilization, advocacy, and disease prevention. They typically work in health clinics and Community-Based Health Planning and Services [CHPS].
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Jarvis, K., Vallianatos, H., Richter, S., Boakye, P.N. (2022). A Multidisciplinary Approach to Obstetric Fistula in Northern Ghana: “Not Counted Among Women”. In: Drew, L.B., Ruder, B., Schwartz, D.A. (eds) A Multidisciplinary Approach to Obstetric Fistula in Africa. Global Maternal and Child Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06314-5_29
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