Note to Correspondents

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND TO SCREEN AWARD-WINNING

 

DOCUMENTARY ON SILENT SUFFERING OF FISTULA SURVIVORS

 

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will screen the award-winning documentary A Walk to Beautiful in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday, 7 April, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, and Steve Engel, Executive Producer of Engel Entertainment will introduce the documentary, which will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers.

A Walk to Beautiful chronicles the stories of five Ethiopian survivors of obstetric fistula who embark on a difficult journey to reclaim their lost dignity.  “Even death would be better than this,” says 25-year-old Ayehu.  Following prolonged labour without trained medical care, she was left with a stillborn baby and chronic incontinence.  For four years, she hid in a makeshift shack behind her mother’s house, shunned by neighbours and siblings owing to the odour caused by the condition.

Once common throughout the world, fistula has virtually been eliminated in Europe and North America through improved obstetric care.  Yet at least 2 million women and girls in developing countries are living with the preventable injury, and as many as 100,000 new cases occur each year.  The average cost of treatment is just $300.

A Walk to Beautiful won the IDA 2007 Feature Documentary Award and a number of other festival accolades.

Journalists without a United Nations pass must RSVP by Friday, 4 April, to Saira Stewart, e-mail:  sstewart@unfpa.org, tel.:  +1 212 297 5279.

A global Campaign to End Fistula, led by UNFPA, is helping women in more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia and the Arab region.  For more on obstetric fistula and the Campaign, visit www.EndFistula.org.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record