INTEGRATING PHYSICAL REHAB TO STRENGTHEN FISTULA & MATERNAL CARE

Please join EngenderHealth’s USAID-funded Fistula Care Plus project, with partners Panzi Hospital and Mama, LLC, to discuss the impact of integrating physical rehabilitation in fistula and maternity care. We will showcase practical tools and success stories from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Maternal morbidities such as pelvic organ prolapse and obstetric fistula affect women’s ability to carry out daily tasks and participate fully in society. Surgical treatment is often required to fully repair these conditions. However, for many women, physical therapy (or physiotherapy-informed treatment) can make a profound impact on the severity of symptoms and quality of life. Despite this impact and the low cost of physical therapy relative to many other interventions, these services are often a missing piece in health care, particularly in low-resource settings.

During this virtual panel, Fistula Care Plus and our partners Panzi Hospital and Mama, LLC will highlight initiatives to bridge the gap in access to and capacity for pelvic floor physical therapy in low- and middle-income countries and share examples of progress in this area from the DRC. We will also share new resources to build capacity, particularly an innovative training manual for healthcare workers to introduce physical rehabilitation services into comprehensive fistula and maternity care.

Our panelists include:

Dr. Laura Keyser, Physiotherapist, Mama, LLC

Ms. Jessica McKinney, Physiotherapist, Mama, LLC

Dr. Rachel Kinja, Panzi Hospital

Dr. Kenny Raha, Panzi Hospital

Dr. Vandana Tripathi, Director, Fistula Care Plus project, EngenderHealth

The virtual panel will be moderated by Alison El Ayadi, ScD, MPH of The University of California, San Francisco.