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Earlier this month, we had the great privilege of visiting IMR partners in Karachi, Pakistan. Our team included our Executive Director and UroGynecologist Dr. Sleemi, her long time mentor Dr. Ralph Chesson, Nurse Midwife and IMR Managing Director Mayano Ochi, and Jacqueline Kirk, who was there to document the stories of the hard work that our partners in Pakistan have put in. IMR has been working in Pakistan since 2022 in our effort to end fistula.

On the outskirts of Karachi is Koohi Goth Women’s Hospital where we spent the majority of our time. Koohi Goth is an incredible facility dedicated to the eradication of fistula where they perform free surgical repairs for women suffering from fistula. Women come from all over the country in pursuit of a treatment that will end their daily suffering due to the urinary and fecal incontinence that fistulas cause. Throughout the week, Dr. Sleemi and Dr. Chesson performed surgery on the patients at the Fistula Center alongside our Pakistani colleagues. Many of the Pakistani surgeons expressed gratitude to have received high quality mentoring and instruction from these two experts.

One of the strong beliefs that Koohi Goth holds is that skilled midwives are the key to fistula prevention. Koohi Goth hosts a 2-year diploma program for midwife students that come from some of the most rural and impoverished areas of the country. They receive their education, along with room, board, and text books all for free. They are even given a small monthly stipend. All of this is in an effort to increase the midwifery workforce who will then return to their villages where they will help save women’s lives and prevent fistulas by identifying abnormal labor and determining when a C-section is necessary. We were honored to have had the chance to instruct these eager students who clearly had so much passion for their studies, both in the classroom and in the clinical setting, .

It was humbling to witness and learn about the challenges that the midwives, doctors, and the patients face in Pakistan. IMR is committed to helping alleviate some of the burden and look forward to returning again next year.

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