Diamond Bank Plc, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, has invested in the health sector in a bid to promote the wellbeing of women in Nigeria. The leading retail bank in Africa will be sponsoring the medical surgeries of 15 young Nigerian women suffering from Vesico Vagina Fistula, VVF.
This initiative is in conjunction with Extended Hands Charity, a non-governmental organisation and will kick off in October in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Also, some medical equipment will be donated to selected fistula centres across Nigeria.
Speaking on the project, Head, Corporate Communications, Diamond Bank Plc, Mrs Ayona Trimnell, revealed that the Bank places high premium on women’s health and its CSR is strategically focused on reaching as many women as possible who may require help.
She noted that, “VVF is an avoidable medical condition and the initiative to reduce its spread is borne out of Diamond’s Bank’s commitment to reduce the maternal mortality rate in the country.
The initiative will sensitise women on how to internalise good health habits as well as make better informed choices regarding their health and those of their partners.”
Speaking further, Mrs Trimnell pointed out that the initiative will “also provide basic healthcare services to women in rural areas and empower them economically in the areas of agriculture and trading.
“This unique approach will ensure that the affected women are able to make better choices concerning their wellbeing and also have the economic power to improve their living standards,” she submitted.
VVFs are holes resulting from the breakdown of the tissue between the vaginal wall and the bladder or rectum caused by unrelieved obstructed labour. The consequences of such damage are urinary or faecal incontinence and related conditions in women.
According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, the condition is the single most dramatic aftermath of neglected childbirth.
A 2008 research by NDHS shows that Nigeria has the highest prevalence of VVF in the world with approximately 400,000–800,000 women living with the condition and about 20,000 new cases occurring annually. Ninety percent of the cases go untreated.
