Project Zero: Road Map to a Fistula-Free Ethiopia

Going from door-to-door, Woreda-by-Woreda (district by district), our project will be designed to find and treat every woman in Ethiopia living with obstetric fistula and do all in our power to prevent child birth injuries in the future.

There are estimated to be thousands of women suffering with untreated obstetric fistula injuries in underserved rural areas of Ethiopia. In addition to this, every year a further 1,000 women develop fistula after suffering an obstructed childbirth.

We’ve made it our mission to bring this number down to zero.

We know it’s a big task, but we also know that with our systematic woreda by woreda (district by district) approach it is achievable and within our capabilities.

How Project Zero will change lives

Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia is working closely with woreda health bureaus and other partners to end fistula in multiple districts each year through a three-step approach: identification and treatment, prevention and education. Pilot projects are informing the expansion and roll out of this multi-year programme from 2024 onward.

Project Zero’s programme activities will support and contribute to Ethiopia’s National Strategic Plan for the Elimination of Obstetric Fistula.

We have three overarching ambitions: to identify and treat all fistulas, to improve maternal health care in the Woreda and ensure that change is sustained, and to continually learn so that Project Zero can be as effective as possible.

Tesfaye Mamo, CEO, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia

Identification: Project Zero will ensure Ethiopian women living with fistula are found, treated, and given back their lives. We will train health workers and volunteers to undertake house to house surveys and community outreach to search districts for women living with fistula and make referrals.

Community Education: We will target community and religious leaders to help raise awareness of fistula and maternal health risks and what action people can take: whether they are pregnant or living with an untreated childbirth injury themselves, or know someone who is.

Treatment: We will enable women identified with fistula and pelvic organ prolapse to come to a Hamlin hospital and receive free treatment, by arranging return transport, reducing out of pocket costs for patients and providing all medical services free of charge as part of our wider work.

Prevention: Midwifery clinics in targeted districts will be supported by Hamlin midwives to improve maternal health care and outcomes and end new fistula injuries. Through this expansion of our prevention work, we will deliver comprehensive ante-natal care to thousands of women

Project Zero launched in 2024 and has now reached four districts. Over 56,000 households have been visited, and 302 women found in need of treatment. With six more districts planned next year, the momentum is building. Over the long-term, Project Zero aims to declare multiple woredas as fistula-free, toward our ultimate goal to end fistula in Ethiopia.