Determinants of Obstetric Fistula in Uganda: Evidence from the DHS Data

Marguerite Sagna, University of Texas at San Antonio
Nazrul Hoque, University of Texas at San Antonio

Hundreds of thousands of women in developing countries are suffering from pregnancy-related complications. Obstetric fistula is the most incapacitating and degrading morbidity resulting from obstructed labor which,without a prompt medical intervention leaves women with a chronic incontinence. Despite being a great public health problem, obstetric fistula has been relatively less researched in the field of reproductive health. Most of the published research on fistula in developing countries comes from the clinical field and focuses on fistula treatment and repair. Knowledge on the magnitude as well as on the characteristics of women affected by this morbidity is still limited. The aim of this study is to examine the determinants of obstetric fistula using the first round of data collected by the Demographic and Health Survey(DHS)in Uganda. Logistic regression is used to unravel the factors linked to the development of obstetric fistula in Uganda.