“We have to eradicate Ethiopia of this awful thing that’s happening to women: suffering, untold suffering, in the countryside. I leave this with you to do in the future, to carry on.” – Dr Catherine Hamlin On Wednesday March 18, 2020, the world lost one of its great humanitarians, Dr Catherine Hamlin. A living, breathing […]...
Garnering international and professional recognition was never the priority for Dr Catherine Hamlin; serving some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable women in Ethiopia was, however. The stories of the obstetric fistula patients Catherine and her team treated are inspiring. These women, whose lives have irrevocably been changed by fistula repair surgery, reflect incredibly poignantly […]...
Dr Catherine Hamlin was determined not only to treat fistula but to prevent these childbirth injuries in the first place; that’s why she opened the Hamlin College of Midwives in 2007. The graduation of the first batch of Hamlin Midwives in 2011 was a proud moment for Catherine and the entire Hamlin Team; since then, […]...
Dr Catherine Hamlin‘s dedication, compassion and medical advances have been recognised several times over the years; she was awarded the prestigious Companion of the Order of Australia in 1995, Alternate Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, the United Nations Association of Australia Lifework Award in 2017 and the NSW Senior Australian of the Year for 2018, […]...
The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has become known as a global centre of excellence in fistula surgery. By 2014, word of Dr Catherine Hamlin‘s work and the need to eradicate obstetric fistula had spread – notably, the Hamlins’ work in training Ethiopians to become best-practice surgeons. Recognising the excellent care and surgical practice maintained at […]...
Nestled along quiet gardens, and in the shadow of a mountain on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, are ten houses which each accommodate recovering obstetric fistula patients. Desta Mender is more than a home to its patients, it is a community, where women can learn, recover and live together. Patients with chronic injuries that require […]...
Dr Catherine Hamlin always maintained that it was essential to not only treat a fistula but to treat the patient as a whole; that is why she opened Desta Mender in 2002. Desta Mender is Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia’s Rehabilitation and Reintegration Centre where long-term fistula patients with severe injuries can continue to heal. Desta Mender […]...
In 1993, Dr Reg Hamlin died of cancer. After losing her husband, Dr Catherine Hamlin was faced with a hard decision: how to continue her work without Reg? The idea of treating thousands of obstetric fistula patients alone was overwhelming. Not alone in the fight Birru, Catherine’s gardener who had been with the Hamlins since […]...
After establishing their hospital by the river, news of the Hamlins’ obstetric fistula treatment and the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital quickly spread. Women were coming by foot from all over Ethiopia. Catherine and Reg’s Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital was on its way to becoming a major teaching institution in East Africa and the Hamlin Model […]...
Word spread of the incredible work Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin were doing at the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital. To cater for the increasing number of obstetric fistula patients arriving at their doorstep, Catherine and Reg began fundraising. In 1971, using money donated from New Zealand, they bought a piece of land on the outskirts […]...
Throughout Dr Catherine Hamlin‘s 61 years in Ethiopia, two of her closest confidantes were Mamitu and Lete. These two remarkable women are former obstetric fistula sufferers who have dedicated their life after surgery to the fellow patients at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Two resilient women In 1962, 16-year-old Mamitu was carried into the Princess […]...
After accepting the call in the Lancet Journal and deciding to work in Ethiopia, Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin had to quickly get to work navigating the maternal health landscape in mid-twentieth century Ethiopia. Their adventurous spirit inspired Catherine and Reg to accept a three-year contract with the Ethiopian Government to work as obstetrician-gynaecologists and […]...
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