Nigeria, Aug. 6 -- At Jahun General Hospital in northern Nigeria, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) teams are providing reconstructive surgery, mental health care, and rehabilitation to about 300 women every year who have obstetric fistulas.

Obstetric fistula occurs when a hole develops between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum, and is often caused by obstructed or very long labor. Fistulas cause urine or stool to leak from the vagina, causing discomfort and embarrassment that severely impact women's quality of life.

The risk of complicated childbirth, and therefore of fistulas, is increased when a woman's pelvis is too small to allow the baby to pass through. This can happen when girls who are younger than 1...