Introduction
Obstetric fistula, which includes both vesicovaginal (VVF) and recto-vaginal fistula (RVF), represents critically important and largely neglected issue in the field of reproductive health. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that at least two million girls and women currently live with fistula and that an additional 50,000 to 100,000 are affected each year. Exact prevalence rates of the condition in Somalia and indeed, the region are not known due to scarcity of reliable data and low mapping of the condition, but according to latest 2009 UNFPA assessment, a figure of 6,000 to 15,000 new fistulas occurring each year in East Africa. This figure is based on the knowledge that every year, three million women survive deliveries in the region.