Abstract:
Background: Obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder, which leads to
continuous leakage of urine and or feces. Globally, estimated 50,000-100,000 women develop
fistula annually and approximately 2 million women currently live with fistula, which is a burden
in almost 60 countries and continued as a neglected public health problem. Ethiopia is one of
developing countries with poor maternal health care as well as high prevalence of obstetric
fistula.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess awareness on obstetric fistula and
associated factors among reproductive age women in Chalia District, Western Ethiopia, 2021.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 403 study
participants from September 25 to October 30, 2021. Simple random sampling technique was
used to enroll study participants. Hence, two smallest administrative units from urban and six
from rural strata were selected by lottery method. Participants who scored above and or equal
to mean score were considered as having good awareness and below the mean as having poor
awareness. Pretested, interviewer administered and adapted questionnaire was used to collect
data. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS Version 25 for
analysis. Bi-variable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were computed. Variables
with p-value ≤ 0.25 on bi-variable logistic regression analysis were taken into multivariable
logistic regression analysis. AOR of independent variables with 95% CI was used to declare
statistical association at P-value of < 0.05.
Results: This study showed that 20.2 %( 95% CI: 12.6-27.7) of reproductive age women had a
good awareness of obstetric fistula. Independent variables such as living in urban
(AOR=2.93:95% CI:1.59-5.39), educational attainment of more than secondary
(AOR=4.82:95% CI:1.56-14.87), institutional delivery (AOR=2.21:95% CI: 1.27-3.84),
contraceptive use(AOR=2.95:95% CI:1.23-7.06) and having prior information on obstetric
complications (AOR=3.14:95% CI:1.52-6.51) were found to be significantly associated with
awareness of obstetric fistula.
Conclusions and Recommendations: The study showed that awareness of obstetric fistula was
low. Residence, educational status, institutional delivery, contraceptive use and having prior
information on obstetric complications were significantly associated with awareness of obstetric
fistula. Therefore, special attention should be given for those identified factors of maternal
health care issues, particularly that of obstetric fistula.
