{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,12]],"date-time":"2025-09-12T17:55:32Z","timestamp":1757699732069,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,1]],"date-time":"2021-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1617235200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The advent of Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected many programs worldwide, public health, including programming for obstetric fistula were not spared. Obstetric fistula is an abnormal connection between the vagina and the bladder or the rectum resulting from obstetric causes, mainly prolonged obstructed labour. Zimbabwe has two obstetric fistula repair centers. Because the program uses specialist surgeons from outside the country, the repairs are organized in quarterly camps with a target to repair 90 women per quarter. This study aimed at assessing the impact of restrictions on movement and gathering of people brought about by the Cocid-19 pandemic and to characterize participants of the camp which was held in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic at Mashoko Hospital. Specifically it looked at how Covid-19 pandemic affected programming for obstetric fistula repair and characterized participants of the fistula camp held in November to December 2020 at one of the repair centers. A review of the dataset and surgical log sheets for the camp and national obstetric fistula dataset was conducted. Variables of interest were extracted onto an excel spreadsheet and analyzed for frequencies and proportions. Data were presented in charts, tables and narratives. The study noted that Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected performance of fistula repairs greatly with only 25 women repaired in 2020 as compared to 313 in 2019. Ninety women were called to come for repairs but 52 did not manage to attend due to reasons related to the restriction of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Two thirds of those women suffered from urinary incontinence while the other third had fecal incontinence. The successful repair rate was 92%. This study concluded that the pandemic greatly affected programming of fistula repair in the country and recommended the Ministry of Health and Child Care to institute measures to resume programming as soon as the situation allows.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0249398","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,1]],"date-time":"2021-04-01T18:36:51Z","timestamp":1617302211000},"page":"e0249398","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on obstetric fistula repair program in Zimbabwe"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8508-2142","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chipo","family":"Chimamise","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stephen Peter","family":"Munjanja","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mazvita","family":"Machinga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Iris","family":"Shiripinda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0249398.ref001","unstructured":"UNFPA. The Maternal Health Thematic Fund 2014 Annual Report: Improving maternal health, surging toward the 2015 deadline [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2019 Jun 1]. https:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/pub-pdf\/MHTF%20annual%20report%20for%20WEB_0.pdf."},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0249398.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"636","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aogh.2015.12.005","article-title":"Giving Voice to the Experiences of Rwandan Women With Urogenital Fistula","volume":"81","author":"A Kay","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ann Glob Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0249398.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1186\/s12905-015-0267-1","article-title":"Living with constant leaking of urine and odour: thematic analysis of socio-cultural experiences of women affected by obstetric fistula in rural Tanzania","volume":"15","author":"LT Mselle","year":"2015","journal-title":"BMC Womens Health"},{"key":"pone.0249398.ref004","unstructured":"The World Health Organization W. 10 Facts on Obstetric Fistula [Internet]. Geneva; 2019 Jan [cited 2019 May 30]. https:\/\/www.who.int\/features\/factfiles\/obstetric_fistula\/en\/."},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0249398.ref005","first-page":"e8781","article-title":"A Cohort Study of Emergency Surgery Caseload and Regional Anesthesia Provision at a Tertiary UK Hospital During the Initial COVID-19 Pandemic","volume":"12","author":"S Wade","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cureus"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0249398.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"511","DOI":"10.1080\/19371918.2020.1806168","article-title":"Effect of Covid-19 on Nigerian Socio-economic Well-being, Health Sector Pandemic Preparedness and the Role of Nigerian Social Workers in the War Against Covid-19","volume":"35","author":"H Ajibo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Soc Work Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0249398.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1186\/s12905-017-0451-6","article-title":"\u2018I stayed with my illness\u2019: a grounded theory study of health seeking behaviour and treatment pathways of patients with obstetric fistula in Kenya","volume":"17","author":"AM Khisa","year":"2017","journal-title":"BMC Womens Health"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0249398.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"440","DOI":"10.1080\/07399332.2012.755981","article-title":"Lived experiences of Ghanaian women with obstetric fistula","volume":"34","author":"PP Mwini-Nyaledzigbor","year":"2013","journal-title":"Health Care Women Int"},{"issue":"S1","key":"pone.0249398.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S130","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijgo.2007.06.034","article-title":"Fistula Fortnight: Innovative partnership brings mass treatment and public awareness towards ending obstetric fistula","volume":"99","author":"K Ramsey","year":"2007","journal-title":"Int J Gynecol Obstet"},{"issue":"40","key":"pone.0249398.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1016\/S0968-8080(12)40661-9","article-title":"Still living with fistula: an exploratory study of the experience of women with obstetric fistula following corrective surgery in West Pokot, Kenya","volume":"20","author":"AM Khisa","year":"2012","journal-title":"Reprod Health Matters"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0249398.ref011","first-page":"15","article-title":"The Prevalence and Impact of Obstetric Fistula on Women of Kaptembwa\u2013Nakuru, Kenya","volume":"4","author":"ZM Kimani","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int J Appl Sci Technol"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0249398.ref012","first-page":"193","article-title":"Obstetric Fistula: Living With Incontinence and Shame","volume":"1","author":"L Semere","year":"2008","journal-title":"Rev Obstet Gynecol"},{"key":"pone.0249398.ref013","unstructured":"Abokaiagana A. Experiences of women with Obstetric fistula in the Bawku East District of the Upper East Region, Ghana [Internet]. University of Ghana; 2010 [cited 2021 Jan 18]. http:\/\/ugspace.ug.edu.gh."},{"key":"pone.0249398.ref014","unstructured":"Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe. National Health Strategy for Zimbabwe 2016\u20132020. 2016."},{"key":"pone.0249398.ref015","unstructured":"The World Health Organization. Obstetric Fistula guiding principels for clinical managent and programme development [Internet]. WHO Press, Geneva; 2017 [cited 2020 May 1]. https:\/\/www.afro.who.int\/sites\/default\/files\/2017-06\/mps%20Fistula2.pdf."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0249398.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.4314\/wajm.v23i1.28071","article-title":"Obstetric urogenital fistula: the Ilorin experience, Nigeria","volume":"23","author":"MA Ijaiya","year":"2004","journal-title":"West Afr J Med"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0249398.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"531","DOI":"10.5455\/2320-6012.ijrms20150301","article-title":"Understanding King\u2019s Health Questionnaire (KHQ) in assessment of female urinary incontinence","volume":"3","author":"S Hebbar","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int J Res Med Sci"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0249398.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1011","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajog.2004.02.007","article-title":"The obstetric vesicovaginal fistula: characteristics of 899 patients from Jos, Nigeria","volume":"190","author":"LL Wall","year":"2004","journal-title":"Am J Obstet Gynecol"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0249398","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,23]],"date-time":"2022-12-23T05:16:55Z","timestamp":1671772615000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0249398"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Godfrey Nyangadzayi","family":"Musuka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,1]]},"references-count":18,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0249398","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1932-6203"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,1]]}}}