A Voice For the Voiceless
The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.
The Impact of Service
|
Translate this page:
Prevalence
Available data supports the general conclusion that UP is a serious problem affecting an alarming number of women. One source suggests that over one million women are suffering from uterine prolapse in Nepal (Bodner-Adler et al. 2007); the UNFPA estimates that at least 600,000 women are suffering, with 200,000 of those women needing emergency surgery for advanced cases.
Achieving an accurate picture of the prevalence of UP in Nepal is a challenging task. Much of the country is remote. Rural areas receive poor health services and are difficult to survey, so even anecdotal accounts of health needs can be hard to come by. Even in regions where data is available, estimates are considered conservative because of the high levels of secrecy surrounding UP, and women’s reluctance to reveal their condition.
Globally, UP is thought to affect between 2-20% for women under age 45 (WHO 1995). The prevalence is thought to be much higher in Nepal because of conditions of inadequate health care and extensive women’s work.
A household survey conducted by the Center for Agro-ecology and Development (CAED) in 2006 found an average prevalence rate of 37% in Nepal’s Siraha and Saptari Districts (30% and 42%, respectively). Both of these districts are in the terai (plains) regions of Nepal, where prolapse rates are thought to be lower than in the hill districts. These high figures suggest that national prevalence rates (and especially in the hills areas) could be much higher than clinic-based survey data has so far shown. More research is clearly needed.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |