Providing Safe Childbirth for Every Woman For many years, when Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin sent young women home healed from the Fistula Hospital in Addis, wearing a new dress, the most important instruction the women were given was, “When you get pregnant again, before the birth, start walking to the nearest hospital.”   The Hamlins’ […]

In 2020, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia and UNFPA Ethiopia formed a partnership to combine efforts to improve maternal health outcomes for Ethiopian women living with untreated obstetric fistula injuries. This three-year joint project focuses on improving access to fistula for Ethiopian women, as well as reaching more women for screening and referral of cervical cancer. The Patient Identification Program is a key […]

Treat Hamlin’s hard working clinical team performed 2,584 surgeries for women with birth injuries from fistula and pelvic organ prolapse Rehabilitate 420 women received psychological and social support Equip We don’t just treat women with fistula, we empower them to return to lives of dignity. In Hamlin’s comprehensive reintegration program 1,253 women received numeracy and […]

For twenty-seven-year-old Etenesh, studying health was her life-long dream. When Hamlin approached her about a midwifery scholarship she didn’t hesitate to apply. Born and raised in the small town of Gorgora, located on the shore of Lake Tana where the Blue Nile River starts its long journey, Etenesh studied at the Hamlin College of Midwives […]

Thirty-six year-old Sister Domenica is originally from South Sudan in a small town called Upper Nile, located very close to Ethiopian border. Now she is training to be a Hamlin midwife.

In the final year of her degree, Rahmet spent three months attending practical clinical placements, while also learning about mental health care in midwifery practice, health service management and understanding ultrasound. While she was on this placement, Rahmet saw the impact of Hamlin Midwives firsthand: “During my spring placement there were no fistula cases,” she recalls.

Hiqlimay is just a young girl, but at 13, she is already mother to a two-month old baby, safely delivered by Hamlin midwife Tizita in the Hamlin centre at Dogu. Although married young in the traditional manner, she and her husband are a modern young couple with big plans. In three months time, he will be leaving Hiqlimay for two years to study nursing at university. Wanting to be cautious, they agreed that she should come back to Dogu to see the midwife about contraception. They don’t want her to fall pregnant before he leaves, especially since she will be returning to school for the 7th grade while her mother cares for her baby.

Young Hamlin midwife Tisita, at 23, already exhibits the hard work ethic and heroic attitude inspired by her own heroine, Dr Catherine Hamlin.

Hamlin Midwives play an essential role in preventing obstetric fistula injuries and saving the lives of hundreds of mothers and babies every year. Based in more than 50 Hamlin-supported midwifery clinics across rural Ethiopia, these trained professionals also support, nurture and empower women while sharing invaluable knowledge, building trusting networks and transforming entire communities in rural Ethiopia.