Ask Lemmy

Yeah. Sadly rectovaginal fistulae are a huge issue in the developing world and there are millions of woman suffering greatly from them. The consequences are severe,often include things like massive infections, incontinence, infertility, labial fusion(yeah,that is exactly what you think it is - happens due to ongoing infections) and sepsis/death.

They mainly happen during childbirth with sufficient medical assistance and to a lesser extend as a consequence of rape. (Due to the "unattended birth" movement we see a raise in the case numbers in the industrial nations as well recently)

Most woman die untreated but shunned from their communities as the required surgery is complicated, requires extensive aftercare and is expensive. There are whole nations without a single surgeon providing these surgeries.

Currently a huge percentage of these surgeries have been cancelled anyway, thanks to the orange. I know of cases who literally got send home from the hospital due to that.