Social Work & Obstetric Fistula
Social workers, among other helping professions, adhere to a code of ethics and standards. Social justice, the dignity and worth of a person, and social welfare are standards or values that Social Workers are obliged to uphold. It appears the United Nations’ efforts to disseminate awareness on obstetric fistula have vastly been less effective than expected, in particular, to social workers that could bolster the support for 1) the holistic needs that the literature has shown will be required to eradicate OF 2) the effort to increase general awareness on such social injustice.
Learn. Share. Change.
Learn. Share. Change.
The Fistula Foundation has provided OF services since 2000, utilizing an eight-point plan incorporating community awareness, outreach volunteers, hospital networking, transportation, pre-surgery care, fistula repair surgery, medical rehabilitation, and community reintegration. Social workers are a unique profession in that, outside of the fistula repair surgery itself, a social worker could potentially assist in any of the other points of care. This may include providing psychological counseling during medical rehab, navigating resources for transportation, increasing local or global community awareness through community advocates or social media, organizing volunteers, maintaining network relationships among hospitals, preparing pre-surgery, and finding or leading support post-surgery. The amelioration of social injustice experienced by these women and girls will likely require amplifying the current efforts in motion.
Fistula Foundation. (2022, n.d.) Help give a woman a new life. https://fistulafoundation.org/
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of ethics of the national association of social
workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/about/ethics/code-of-ethics/code-of-ethics-english