Abstract:
Obstetric fistula classic symptoms of faecal and urinary incontinence cause women to live with social
stigma, isolation, psychological trauma and lose their source of livelihoods. There is a paucity of studies on the
health seeking behaviour trajectories of women with fistula illness although women live with the illness for decades
before surgery. We set out to establish the complete picture of women’s health seeking behaviour using qualitative
research. We sought to answer the question: what patterns of health seeking do women with obstetric fistula
display in their quest for healing?
