01/08/2026
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐: ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐: ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ข๐ ๐๐ก'๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ก ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ข๐ ๐๐ก'๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ก ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฅ
ยฉ ๐พ๐ง๐ค๐จ๐จ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ผ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฎ (๐พ๐๐๐๐๐พ๐ฟ๐ผ) ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ
โ"Under the Prince Otu led administration, we have been able to place the health and dignity of women at the very heart of governance and nowhere was this more evident than in the recent, deeply moving campaign against Obstetric Fistula across Cross River State."
โIn a rare convergence of government will, traditional authority, international partnership, and grassroots compassion, Cross River State has just closed the chapter on one of its most consequential public health interventions in recent memory: Project Restore the Women's Dignity Symposium and Free Surgery Mission, targeting the eradication of vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) and rectovaginal fistula (RVF).
โ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐, ๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐
โThe initiative unfolded in three powerful acts. It began with advocacy a royal audience with the Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V, who took the extraordinary step of recalling his Etuboms and council chiefs from a scheduled recess to receive the Director-General of CRSPHCDA, Dr. Vivien Mesembe Otu, and Dr. Nkiruka Agbazue, founder of HELLO International. The monarch's decision to prioritize the visit above his own council's rest day spoke volumes about the weight Cross River's traditional institution now places on women's health as a pillar of communal stability.
โIt continued with education the Project Restore Women's Dignity Symposium at the Cross River State Library Complex, Calabar, convened under the theme "Ending Obstetric Fistula Through Prevention, Partnership and Women's Empowerment." The day opened with a symbolic one-hour Awareness Walk from Mary Slessor Roundabout through Marian Road and IBB Way, past U.J. Esuene Stadium, led by Dr. Otu. Inside the hall, a formidable faculty of specialists urogynecology, obstetrics, human rights law, psychology, and social work walked stakeholders through the full arc of fistula care: prevention, surgical repair, legal protection, emotional healing, and reintegration.
โGovernment officials in attendance included the Director-General of CRSPHCDA, Dr. Vivien Mesembe Otu; the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Egbe Ayuk; the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. Edema Irom; the Commissioner for International Donor Coordination, Dr. Hippolatus Lukpata; the Special Adviser to the Governor on Nursing Education, Mrs. Udauk Spencer Efem; and the Representative of the First Lady of Cross River State, Mrs. Queeneth Eton, Special Adviser to the First Lady on Programs.
โThe symposium also drew a broad cross-section of society, with traditional rulers, religious leaders, traditional birth attendants, health workers, Muslim Women groups, Nursing, Medical and Secondary school students, and various NGOs all turning out in strength.
โAnd it closed with restoration the free surgical mission at the Fistula Centre, General Hospital, Calabar, where 20 women received reconstructive surgery, physiotherapy-based rehabilitation, and economic empowerment support, entirely at no cost to them, fully underwritten by HELLO International with support from the Cross River State government.
As part of the economic empowerment package, the women were presented with grinding machines complete with their engines, sewing machines, ovens and dryers (both gas and firewood-powered), and fabricated popcorn poppers to support their reintegration into economic life.
โBehind every successful repair in that theatre stood one steady pair of hands: Dr. Etim Effiong Ayi, Obstetric Fistula Surgeon and a Burns and Plastics Surgeon of the highest distinction. It is one thing to pledge free surgery to twenty women; it is quite another to deliver it with the precision, patience, and technical mastery that true reconstructive fistula repair demands. Dr. Ayi brought both translating a humanitarian commitment into twenty successful outcomes, and giving each woman not merely a repaired body, but a restored place in her family and community. His work at the theatre of repair and reconstruction was, in every sense, the quiet engine room behind Project Restore's public triumph, and history will rightly record his name alongside this landmark chapter in Cross River State's fight against fistula. Perhaps most powerful of all were the survivors themselves, who stepped forward to share their stories of pain, healing, and hope transforming a policy conversation into a deeply human one.
โ๐๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ: ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐๐, ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ
โWhat distinguished Project Restore from a conventional medical outreach was its refusal to treat fistula as a purely clinical problem. The Nigerian Human Rights Commission and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) addressed the legal and human-rights dimensions of survivorship, while psychologists and social workers tackled the emotional trauma and social exclusion that so often accompany the condition. Students were not left out books on character and values were donated to school libraries by the daughter of the founder of Hello International Miss Udodi, and every student in attendance received a personal gift package from Dr. Agbazue, embedding the message of dignity in the state's next generation.
โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐: ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐
โAt the formal reintegration ceremony, Dr. Vivien Mesembe Otu captured the spirit of the entire mission in her remarks of gratitude to Dr. Agbazue: for the surgery, the rehabilitation, the empowerment, and ultimately, the return of these women to full participation in society. Government functionaries, including the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. Edema Irom, and the Commissioner for International Donor Coordination, Dr. Hippolatus Lukpata, joined in affirming the state's appreciation for a partnership stakeholders have already described as a landmark in the fight against fistula-related stigma. Commitments to end VVF and RVF in our society were secured from all the groups represented at the event.
โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐
โProject Restore is more than a single successful campaign it is a template. It shows what becomes possible when a state government, a royal institution, an international NGO, UN agencies, legal advocates, and communities align around a single, unglamorous but urgent cause: the health and dignity of women who have been too long overlooked. Cross River State has signaled, through both word and action, that maternal health and women's dignity are not peripheral concerns, but central to its vision of development.
โThe commitments made at the close of the symposium stronger referral systems, sustained prevention campaigns, and continued partnership now set the benchmark against which the state's next chapter on women's health will be measured.
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