About Dr Catherine Hamlin

Reg and Catherine Hamlin travelled to Ethiopia for the first time over 65 years ago, and initially only planned to stay for three years. On the evening of their arrival in Ethiopia, a fellow gynaecologist told them, “The fistula patients will break your hearts.” And they did.

The Hamlins had never seen an obstetric fistula case before and there was little or no treatment available in Ethiopia.

These two surgical pioneers refused to turn their backs on the women of Ethiopia. They remained in Ethiopia to treat women who had suffered an obstetric fistula – a horrific internal injury caused by an unrelieved obstructed labour during childbirth. Obstetric fistula leaves a woman incontinent, humiliated and grieving the loss of her child. 

Catherine and Reg went about dramatically transforming the maternal healthcare landscape for the women of Ethiopia.

Today, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia remains the reference organisation and leader in the fight to eradicate obstetric fistula around the world, blazing a trail for holistic treatment and care that empowers women to reassert their humanity, secure their health and wellbeing, and regain their roles in their families and communities.

Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin met and married while they were both medical officers at Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Their adventurous spirit inspired them to accept a three-year contract with the Ethiopian Government to work as obstetrician-gynaecologists and set up a midwifery school in Addis Ababa.

On the evening of their arrival in Ethiopia, a fellow gynaecologist told them, “The fistula patients will break your hearts.” The Hamlins had never seen an obstetric fistula case before and there was little or no treatment available in Ethiopia.

Initially working from the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, Catherine and Reg refined the surgical technique to close obstetric fistula injuries, while continuing to treat a broad range of obstetric cases. Within the first three years, Catherine and Reg had operated on 300 fistula patients. As news of a cure spread, many more patients came seeking treatment.

Opened in 2002, Hamlin’s Rehabilitation and Reintegration Centre, Desta Mender (‘Joy Village’ in Amharic), was built on land about ten kilometres from the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. The village accommodates patients with more severe injuries who require longer-term care. 

The emphasis is now on reintegration. At Desta Mender, women receive education in literacy, numeracy and vocational training. With the help of start-up grants facilitated by Hamlin, many women have gone on to establish their own business. After the darkness of fistula, women can return to their community with hope and independence.

Due to a lack of transportation infrastructure and difficult geography, many patients cannot access the capital city for treatment at Hamlin’s Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. For some patients, even the cost of a bus fare to Addis is just not possible for their family.

For this reason, in 2003, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia began an ambitious plan to build five regional Hamlin fistula hospitals. 

There are now hospitals in Mekele and Bahir Dar in the north, Yirgalem in the south, Harar in the east and Metu in the southwest. 

These hospitals ensure many more women are able to access quality maternal healthcare.

Catherine was determined not only to treat, but prevent childbirth injuries, so she established the Hamlin College of Midwives in 2007. 

The College recruits students from rural areas, putting them through a rigorous four-year BSc in Midwifery, then deploying them back to remote communities where their skills are desperately needed. 

Since 2007, over 270 midwives have graduated from the Hamlin College of Midwives. 

There are currently over 90 rural Hamlin-supported midwifery clinics staffed by Hamlin Midwives. Midwives prevent hundreds of maternal and neonatal deaths and are saving many mothers from suffering devastating childbirth injuries.