Access to High Quality Surgical Repair Services is a Fundamental Right of Patients with Obstetric Fistulas: A Study on Quality of Life Data in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The aim of this study was to assess quality of life (QoL) using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire among obstetric fistula (OF) patients before and after surgical repair of OF (SROF). A longitudinal cohort study was conducted between November 2022 and October 2023 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) among OF patients to assess their QoL before and after SROF. A systematic sampling technique was used to recruit a total of 158 OF patients. The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire assessed general health, life experience, as well as physical, social, psychological, and environmental domains. The mean age among the 158 respondents was 33.51 ± 9.63 years, and 77.85% of them lived in rural areas. In terms of surgical outcomes, 80.38% had closure of the OF with regained continence, 5.7% had closure of the OF with persistent incontinence, and 13.9% had a failed surgical repair. Overall mean QoL scores were higher after OF surgical repair (3.83, standard deviation [SD]=0.89) in comparison to pre-operative (1.58, SD=0.63) (p