The West African country of Niger has the world’s highest birth rate. It is also one of the world’s poorest countries, with a healthcare infrastructure that cannot yet meet the needs of its people. A Nigerien woman can expect to live only 45 years and during her lifetime she will bear, on average, 7.5 children. The combination of high fertility, poverty, and inadequate healthcare resources means that maternal death and childbirth injury are common.
 A Nigerien woman has a 1 in 7 lifetime chance of dying from a pregnancy complication, and her risk of developing a serious, non-fatal, complication of pregnancy, labor or delivery is even higher than this. Young age at first pregnancy is a risk factor for developing a fistula from obstructed labor, and more than one-third (36%) of Nigerien girls aged 15 to 19 have already been pregnant and/or have children.
Not surprisingly, there is a pressing need for fistula care in this part of the world. Tens of thousands of girls and women in Niger are currently living with a fistula, and thousands of new cases occur each year. The Hausa-speaking regions of southern Niger and northern Nigeria probably contain the highest concentration of fistula victims in the world. The Worldwide Fistula Fund is helping to meet their needs.
For years WFF has looked for the right time and the right place to open a fistula treatment and training center that could offer a comprehensive range of services to women suffering from fistula and also function as a training and research center. We have found that place in Danja, Niger.
Experience in other settings strongly suggests that fistula patients do best when treated in specialized facilities that are dedicated exclusively to their care. WFF is establishing such a center in a rural setting just outside Maradi, the second largest city in Niger, on the grounds of the Centre de Sante et de Leprologie (CSL), a health center and leprosy hospital that has been providing care to the people of Niger for over 50 years. For decades CSL has provided integrated whole-person care to outcast patients suffering from leprosy and the stigma associated with this disease. Many of these programs are easily transferable to the care of women suffering from fistula and the stigma associated with urinary and fecal incontinence. CSL is situated on 500 hectares of land, with ample room to grow. The WFF Fistula Center is being constructed on land directly adjacent to the leprosarium and will share administrative and support services with the existing facility.
The Worldwide Fistula Fund is partnering with SIM International and The Leprosy Mission to develop and operate the center, with generous support from Merrill-Lynch and hundreds of other individual and corporate donors around the world.
Click here for more detailed information on the Danja project | 
