Film Screening followed by Q&A

Discussant: Lois Boyle, Trustee and Director of Operations and Communications at Freedom from Fistula Foundation

Although it is widely unheard of in the United States, obstetric fistula is a condition that affects an estimated 2 million African women and girls without access to proper maternity care. Left incontinent, these women and girls are often ostracized by their peers and condemned to a life of solitude and despair. This event will feature a short film followed by a Q&A with Lois Boyle, Trustee and Director of Operations and Communications at Freedom from Fistula Foundation.  

About the Film

SHOUT GLADI GLADI, a documentary narrated by Academy Award® winning actress Meryl Streep, celebrates the extraordinary people who rescue African women and girls from obstetric fistula, a medical condition that can turn them into reviled outcasts. Directed by Adam Friedman and Iain Kennedy, and filmed in Malawi and Sierra Leone, the film spotlights the quest of Ann Gloag, the indefatigable philanthropist and former nurse who drives the movement to save these vulnerable women, and presents the patients as they tell stirring tales of their struggles and triumphs.

About Freedom from Fistula Foundation

The Freedom From Fistula Foundation (FFF) was established in the UK in 2008 by one of Great Britain’s most successful business leaders, Ann Gloag OBE, co-founder of the international transport group Stagecoach Group plc. The U.S. charity was established in May 2011.

The charity is dedicated to helping women and girls who are injured and left incontinent following prolonged, obstructed childbirth – by providing free surgical repairs for patients already suffering with fistula, as well as maternity care to prevent fistulas from happening at all.

Their three main projects are in Sierra Leone, Malawi and Kenya and more than 90% of their staff are nationals supported by international staff and volunteers where necessary. FFF's unique approach focuses on training local surgeons to repair obstetric fistulas, building maternal health clinics staffed by highly trained local nurses and providing education and empowerment to fistula patients.  

The charity’s international Ambassadors include the former President of Malawi, Dr Joyce Banda, and the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

This event is sponsored by Woodrow Wilson School's Center for Health & Wellbeing and its Global Health Program.