A Multidisciplinary Approach to Obstetric Fistula in Africa (eBook)

Bonnie Ruder, PhD, MPH, CPM holds a PhD in Applied Medical Anthropology and a Master in Public Health in International Health from Oregon State University. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Terrewode Women's Fund, a US-based non-profit organization; a senior research consultant with the International Fistula Alliance; and sits on the Board of Governors for Terrewode Women's Community Hospital. She conducts research on maternal health and obstetric fistula and has worked on projects in Uganda, Somalia, The Gambia, Zimbabwe and the USA. Her research focuses on obstetric fistula, residual incontinence post-fistula repair, maternal and infant health, reproductive justice, traditional birth attendants, social justice and systems of oppression, and community-engaged research. Bonnie is a licensed midwife with over 20 years' experience, working primarily in the USA. She has also attended births in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and at a referral hospital in Soroti, Uganda. Her current research examines the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on gender and maternal health in Uganda.

David A. Schwartz, MD, MS Hyg, FCAP has an educational background in Anthropology, Medicine, Emerging Infections, Maternal Health, and Medical Epidemiology & Public Health. He has professional and research interests in reproductive health, diseases of pregnancy, and maternal and infant morbidity and mortality in both resource-rich and resource-poor countries. In the field of Medicine, his subspecialties include Obstetric, Placental & Perinatal Pathology as well as Emerging Infections. An experienced author, editor, investigator and consultant, Dr. Schwartz has long experience investigating the anthropological, biomedical and epidemiologic aspects of pregnancy and its complications as they affect society, in particular among indigenous populations and when they involve emerging infections. Dr. Schwartz has been a recipient of many grants, was a Pediatric AIDS Foundation Scholar, and has organized and directed national and international projects involving maternal health, perinatal infectious diseases, and placental pathology for such agencies as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and the United States Agency for International Development, as well as for the governments of other nations. He has published 3 previous books on pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality, the first in 2015 entitled Maternal Mortality: Risk Factors, Anthropological Perspectives, Prevalence in Developing Countries and Preventive Strategies for Pregnancy-Related Deaths; a book published in 2018 entitled Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America: An Anthropological, Epidemiological and Biomedical Approach; and in 2019 a book entitled Pregnant in the Time of Ebola. Women and Their Children in the 2013-2015 West African Epidemic.  Dr. Schwartz is the editor of the Springer book series Global Maternal and Child Health: Medical, Anthropological and Public Health Perspectives, of which this book is a volume. He has been involved with maternal, fetal and neonatal aspects of such epidemic infections as HIV, Zika and Ebola viruses, and is currently researching these issues with the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Schwartz serves on the Editorial Boards of several international journals and was formerly Clinical Professor of Pathology at the Medical College of Georgia of Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia.