LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Cosmas Chilumpha, 38 is a rare husband with a golden heart. He has practically proven what unconditional love means. In fact, it’s what other heartless men fail. They cruelly divorce and dump their wives when they deeply need their love.
But for eight years, Chilumpha has lived and loved her wife, Matilda, 35, with a fistula condition. This unfortunate predicament leaves the woman unable to hold urine or feces. They leak out through the vagina.
This produces foul-smelling vaginal discharge, making the woman and those close to her uncomfortable. Chilumpha confesses it has not been easy.
“People used to laugh at me but I stood by my wife’s condition and managed to have two children with her regardless of her condition,” says Chilumpha.
He tirelessly took his wife for a medical check-up earlier. Both babies came through Caesarian Section.
Yes, they defied statistics which show that about 90 percent of such cases see mothers lose their babies. They are mostly left with devastating internal injuries on top of the baby loss.
A well-wisher referred Chilumpha to Bwaira Fistula Care Center in Lilongwe for her wife’s treatment.
Matilda is all praises for her husband. She describes herself as lucky to have such a lovely husband despite her condition.
“I developed the fistula problem in 2007 when we lost our first child. My situation was pathetic but my husband gave me hope to carry on,” she recalls.
She adds in 2009 and 2014, couple managed to have their second and third child respectively at Ntchisi District Hospital.
Today, Matilda wears a different tag of deserved pride having come out victorious.
She is one of the Bwaira Fistula Care Center ambassadors. Currently, she owns a tea room with funding from the center.
Fistula Care Center Clinician, Patrick Kampandeni commends Chilumpha’s boldness from the time her wife started seeking antenatal services.
There, he adds, experts counsel men who accompany their wives for antenatal services on how to handle the fistula problem.
“Over 20 men are role models that have stood by their wives since 2003 and so far 853 patients have been brought to the center,” he discloses.
Deputy Minister of Health, Halima Daudi appealed to all men to take care of their wives; arguing fistula problem should be for the whole household and not women only.
She was speaking at Kasakala School Ground in Ntchisi during the commemoration of World Fistula Day which falls on 23 May every year. This year, it was held under the theme: “Twenty Years of Progress Is Not Enough: We Must Act Now to End Obstetric Fistula.”
On the day, Daudi also launched a National Obstetric Fistula Strategy 2023-2030.
Among others, the strategy seeks to guide the implementation of interventions on the management and control of obstetric fistula with the aim of preventing and ending fistula in Malawi by 2030.
In 2018, United Nations Member States adopted General Assembly resolution 73/147, calling for accelerated actions and investments to end fistula within a decade.
It is a vision that aligns with the timeline to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Ending fistula is particularly linked to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 17; the commitment to “leave no one behind.”
In Malawi, it is estimated that 0.6% of women of childbearing age are reported to have an obstetric fistula.
In 2013, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that some 2 to 3 million women and girls live with obstetrical fistula in developing countries, with 50,000 new fistula cases occurring each year.
Chilumpha, a true warrior in fistula fight, from Chithathumba Village in Ntchisi district, has a message: “I urge all men in the country to take care of their wives once they are diagnosed with the fistula problem as it is curable.”
