Obstetric fistulae is a problem commonly encountered in the
developing world, that affects women of childbearing age during
pregnancy and the labour process, resulting in debilitating urinary
and/or faecal incontinence. Historically this predicament was
also suffered by the developed world until the middle of the last
century. Thus, this is not a new world crisis, but simply one of
economic and health development. In the last two decades, new
global initiatives have been instituted in the developing world
to improve training and education in preventative and curative
fistulae treatment by developing a unified classification and
using evidence-based learning as a tool. This modern approach
to the management of a devastating condition can only serve
to achieve the World Health Organization objective of ‘health
security for women throughout their life span’