We follow our strategic plan and intervene at three different levels:

1- We organize surgical missions

Upcoming surgical mission: Boromo, Burkina Faso, January 2012

This surgical mission to treat women suffering from obstetrical fistual is organised in collaboration with ADE Burkina Faso and will take place in the hospital of Boromo. It will be headed by Jacques Corcos, the McGill University urological surgeon who presides MMS Foundation. A team of Canadian doctors and nurses will join him in this mission.

Vesico-vaginal fistula is caused by difficult and complicated childbirth. The scars from excision, sequels of untreated infection or of rape, coupled with the lack of access to proper maternal health care are all impediments to labour in childbirth. Such painful and prolonged labour often results in the loss of the baby and has considerable consequences for the mother. (See our section "why fistula?")

2- We encourage qualitative and anthropological research:

A qualitative study exploring the experience of women living with an obstetrical fistula in Burkina Faso and the impact of surgical repair on their social life.

This participative research project, organized and financed by the foundation Mères du Monde en Santé, will hopefully provide more knowledge regarding the experiences and needs of the women living with fistula, as well as the impact of the surgery on all aspects of their life. These results will help to achieve better interventions and work with the local health care providers in a more holistic way. We consider this approach to be central not only in order to provide better long-term intervention, but also from an ethical point of view.

The research will take place in the medical center (CMA) of Boromo, Burkina Faso, in collaboration with the local health care providers. Women who have been recruited for the surgical mission of MMS next January will be asked to participate in this project. A qualitative research with semi-structured interviews will be done and we wish this research to be in two phases. The first phase will be in January 2011 and interviews will be done with the women prior to their surgery, and the second phase will be done in January 2012 with the same women. We hope that this one-year follow-up will help understand key elements regarding the social reinsertion of these women, a topic that has almost not been studied yet. 

3- We participate in preventive programs

Our prevention activities take place with a program to help Delta Survie in Mali and a teaching program in the region of Boromo, Burkina Faso.