TENA breaks taboos around incontinence care in Kenya
TENA, SCA’s incontinence care brand, donates products to hospitals for fistula treatment in Kenya and sponsored a pan-African fistula congress in Nairobi.
For cultural and religious traditions girls in many African countries get married at the age of 12 to 14 years, an age at which their bodies are physically too immature to for pregnancies and child birth. “During delivery, many of them suffer ruptures in the abdomen and genital area”, says Thomas Glahns, Commercial director for SCA’s incontinence care products in the Middle East and Africa.
Fistulas can lead to incontinence
If this is not treated properly, fistulas – bodily connections between birth canal, the urinary tract and sometimes also the bowel – are the consequence. “The poor girls develop life-long urinary and even faecal incontinence”, comments Thomas.
“SCA has donated TENA products to two hospitals in Nairobi that treat girls with fistulas. We also supply the young women with incontinence products to protect them on their way between home and the hospital”, Thomas continues.
SCA has also recently sponsored the Second International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
SCA’s efforts to provide TENA incontinence care support and education in the region are well appreciated. In the words of a health care professional who had attended the ISOFS conference: “There are so many patients out there [needing incontinence care support in Africa], but the knowledge, existence of products or expert help is lacking. We need to make sure that doctors, nurses, health care professionals and policy movers see the plight of people with incontinence. I don’t know anyone more fit for this campaign than TENA.”
More information Thomas Glahns (thomas.glahns@sca.com)
