Suffering in Silence: Obstetric Fistula in Asia

Obstetric fistula is a devastating medical condition resulting from complicated childbirths. In most cases it is both preventable and treatable. Without intervention, fistula causes chronic incontinence and can lead to a range of other physical and psychosocial ailments.

Shot simultaneously across three counties at the end of 2014, NOOR’s powerful reportage from Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan highlights the frontline efforts in the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula through the stories of women who have endured and overcome the devastating condition.

An insightful and though provoking multimedia documentary, still photographs and accompanying texts draw attention to an almost entirely hidden condition, still tragically prevalent amongst women in this region of Asia.

Narrated by the women themselves who speak on this difficult subject out for the first time, their stories narrate the harrowing effects of fistula and how treatment has turned their lives around.

Backed by testimony from medical experts, individual interviews in turn shed light on the different causes of fistula such as isolation, poverty, child marriage, prolonged labour and lack of education. Sometimes troubling to hear and yet extremely touching, the empowered voices of the women shine through, giving hope that the condition can be erradicated.