Leading the World in Restoring Health and Hope
Mercy Fistula Center – Ghana
At the heart of West Africa, the Mercy Fistula Center in Mankessim, Ghana is the national referral and training hub for obstetric fistula care.
- Treats 150+ women and girls each year – over 70% of all women in Ghana who access fistula surgery.
- Provides holistic care: surgery, counseling, physiotherapy, and reintegration support.
- Hosts training workshops for Ghanaian surgeons and nurses, with visiting expert trainers facilitated by MHF.
- Achieves surgical success rates above 85%, restoring dignity and rebuilding lives.
Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital (TWCH)
MHF has invested nearly $3 million to build, equip, train, and sustain the first and only hospital in Uganda dedicated solely to women’s health and fistula.
- Located in Soroti, Teso Region.
- Free transport and free surgical care for women and girls from rural areas.
- Staff includes fistula survivors offering compassion and empathy.
- Integrates urodynamics, physiotherapy, mental health support, and reintegration programs.
- One of only four FIGO-accredited global surgical training centers and only in Uganda.
- 2,000+ women treated since opening in 2019.
Global Impact
Through our anchor programs in Ghana and Uganda, MHF demonstrates that childbirth injury is preventable and treatable. By supporting centers of excellence like Mercy and TWCH, we are:
- Restoring health and dignity to women.
- Training the next generation of African specialists.
- Strengthening national health systems.
- Offering hope to thousands of families.
- Together, we are setting a global standard of excellence in fistula care.
Getting Started and Picking up Steam
TWCH officially opened in August 2019 by the Association for the Rehabilitation and Re-orientation of Women for Development (TERREWODE) with support from international partners in the United States, Australia and Germany.
- It is a best practice, community-based, non-governmental organization.
- It’s founder and executive director, Alice Emasu Seruyange, is an outstanding leader, journalist and passionate advocate for gender equality and social justice in Uganda.
- A regional center of excellence, TWCH is one of only four worldwide FIGO-accredited surgical training centers, educating doctors from Uganda and abroad.
- 1000+ women have received holistic surgical treatment and reintegration care.
Learn more about our hospital—TWCH—in Uganda
Dr. Barbara Teltschik—urologist, Fistula e.V. Germany Board Chair and IFA Honorary Board Director—is a driving force for medical-technical equipment and the development of medical standards, in particular at TWCH.
Once driven from the center of spiritual and community life—a church or mosque— women express extreme happiness at their return to the fold.
Phase 2 – Maternity and neonatal care and prevention at TWCH
This planning phase is very exciting. A new facility, located at TWCH, will specialize in comprehensive obstetric care and deliveries for Ugandan women and girls to avoid childbirth trauma and tragic mother and infant deaths. It will have a local capacity to deliver 1,500 babies per year; and the ability to manage complications with high quality surgical, ICU and NICU departments.
A great opportunity
We depend on the amazing generosity of high net-worth individuals and private foundations to fund maternal capacity. Please contact MHF’s Executive Director if you or someone you know would like to explore this opportunity:
Joe Kinehan, info@maternalhealthfund.com or (408) 887-7355.