Advancing Gender Equality

Operation Fistula

Funding doctors and surgeons treating low-income women at risk for obstetric fistula

Around 1 million women suffer from obstetric fistula—a painful and isolating condition resulting from high-risk childbirth. Operation Fistula wants to use data to bring that number down to zero.

Partnership start date: 2017

Total funding committed: $1,243,560

Region: Africa and Asia

Website: www.opfistula.org

What they do
Obstetric fistula is a destructive and isolating complication that occurs when a woman needs access to a c-section to safely deliver a baby, but is unable to access care. With the right care, it’s entirely fixable and preventable. Operation Fistula aims eradicate the condition by 2045 by directly funding surgeons and doctors who work patients and women at high risk for it.

What our partnership does
Using data, Operation Fistula wants to make the condition more visible. With the support of Tableau Foundation, Operation Fistula has built out a platform to collect demographic data on women with fistula, and the doctors and surgeons treating fistula patients.

Explore the latest on Operation Fistula

Visualizing the prevalence of obstetric fistula

Using Tableau, Operation Fistula's team of researchers created a compelling visualization of where this under-discussed condition is most common.

See the Visualization