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More than 600,000 women suffer uterine prolapses

[Nepal] Many women in Nepal return to work immediately after giving birth, thereby increasing the risk of prolapse of developing. [Date picture taken: 09/04/2007] David Swanson/IRIN
Nuche Maya Maharjan suffered a discomforting medical condition for 35 years before she built up the courage to seek medical assistance. For years she had no idea what the condition was and whether it could be treated.

“I had just given birth to my first child and was working in the fields near my village. Suddenly I felt as if my insides were dropping out of me,” the 66-year-old recalled.

Baffled by what had happened, she told no-one - not even her husband – hoping the problem would go away.

But over the years, her prolapsed uterus (see box) got worse, to the point that it protruded from her vagina completely, making it difficult for her to walk or even sit upright. She required surgery, a fact prompting this uneducated Nepalese mother-of-five to finally seek help.

Maharjan is one of many rural women who regularly come to the Kirtipur public hospital on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, seeking treatment for prolapses - the leading cause of ill-health among women of reproductive and post-menopausal age in Nepal today, doctors say.

“This is more of a rural problem than an urban one,” Dr Ganesh Dangal, an attending gynecologist at the NGO-funded health facility in Kirtipur, told IRIN. “In rural areas, there are no hospitals to treat this condition, forcing many of these women to travel to the cities for help.”

What is a uterine prolapse?


Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
Dr Danesh Dangal speaks to a patient suffering from uterine prolapse in Kirtipur
  • According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a uterine prolapse is a maternal illness the uterus protrudes into the vagina from its normal anatomical position.
  • The uterus is normally supported by pelvic connective tissue and the pubococcygeus muscle, and held in position by special ligaments. Weakening of these tissues allows the uterus to descend into the vaginal canal.
  • Tissue trauma sustained during childbirth - especially with large babies, difficult labour and delivery and multiple births over short intervals of time - is typically the cause of muscle weakness.
  • In Nepal, the chance of a prolapse occurring are accentuated by fact that many rural women return to heavy manual work immediately after giving birth without adequate rest.
  • In the early stages of a prolapse, pelvic exercises can significantly improve a minor condition. In the next stages, before the uterus has fully dropped into the vaginal canal, ring pessaries can be used to support the uterus in place. After this, surgery is the only alternative - an option costing more than US $200 in Nepal and not affordable to most Nepalese women.
  • According to health experts, prolapse symptoms include back pain, painful abdominal cramps, burning urination, difficulty standing, walking, sitting or lifting, as well as foul smelling discharge, among others.
Yet despite the obvious physical discomfort suffered by these women, many prolapse sufferers do not seek help due to the social stigma the condition carries - a fact only exacerbating this otherwise preventable condition.

“Most rural women don’t even look at this as a disease and don’t seek help,” Dangal confirmed. “Instead they seek comfort in the company of other women in their villages suffering from the same thing - which, regrettably, there are many.”

Given the social stigma associated with a prolapse, coupled with the woman’s inability to satisfy her partner sexually, some husbands remarry and sufferers and their children often find themselves socially excluded, ridiculed or abandoned. 

Specialists estimate that more than 600,000 women in the Himalayan kingdom of 27 million inhabitants suffer from uterine prolapse, making it one of the leading causes of morbidity among lower caste and rural women.

For more acute cases, surgery is the only treatment. At a cost of US $200, most Nepalese women cannot afford this. The World Bank estimates that about 30 percent of Nepalis live below the poverty line.

A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) study undertaken in eight districts of the country in 2006 - including hill, mountain and southern Terrai regions - concluded that about 10 percent of all women of reproductive age suffer from the condition.

More than a health problem

But despite the numbers, many women suffer in silence.

“This is a multifaceted problem. It’s not just a health problem,” Dr Peden Pradhan, UNFPA assistant representative for Nepal, said. “When you are poor and not educated, you generally get married earlier in rural areas, which makes the prevalence of the problem more widespread there.”

The incidence of prolapse could be decreased by having more deliveries attended by trained paramedics, she said. More than 80 percent of Nepalese women give birth at home and inappropriate maneuvering by unskilled birth attendants during delivery increases the risk of prolapse.

Pradhan added that women in Nepal’s male-dominated society lack real empowerment over when they have children. In addition, they lack awareness of what a prolapse is and what to do about it.

Addressing the problem

UNFPA and the government of Nepal are working together to develop a three-fold national strategy to tackle prolapse.  

  1. Improving access to appropriate health care for low-income women, low caste women and women living in conflict areas.
  2. Improving the volume and quality of reproductive health care services, including mobile reproductive health camps.
  3. Promoting awareness of the issue at community level.
“I didn’t know I could talk to people about this. I was embarrassed and ashamed,” said Maili Maharijan, another prolapse sufferer in Kirtipur who waited eight years to come forward.

Unaware that treatment was available, the 70-year-old would routinely push her uterus back in place herself, only to have it drop out again when she coughed or sneezed.

“It was very embarrassing and caused me a great deal of discomfort,” she said.

Such stories underscore the despair, rejection, isolation and stigmatisation felt by many prolapse sufferers in Nepal today.

ds/at/ed

see also
Focus on maternal mortality
Reproductive health and the conflict

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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