Biography of catherine hamlin early

Abstract

An obstetric fistula is a serious and debilitating complication of childbirth. It is an abnormal communication between the urinary tract or the gastrointestinal tract and the genital tract, produced by obstetric causes, usually prolonged and obstructed labor. The fetal head presses against the bony pelvis, creating a connection between the genital tract and the bladder or rectum, resulting in incontinence and, frequently, stillbirth. Factors such as early marital age, poverty, and limited access to obstetric care have perpetuated the high incidence of obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. Two Australian physicians, Reginald Hamlin and Catherine Hamlin, arrived in Ethiopia in 1959 and were compelled to address the significantly unmet need for obstetric fistula repair. The Hamlins developed an innovative surgical technique to address this issue. Their commitment extended to the establishment of the Addis Ababa Fistula Repair Hospital, which, over the following decades, provided life-changing reconstructive surgeries to more than 60,000 Ethiopian women.

Keywords: fistula, fistula repair, hamlin, obstructed labor, rectourethral fistula

Introduction and background

In 1959, a chance encounter with an advertisement in The Lancet medical journal led Australian doctors Reginald and Catherine Hamlin to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia [1]. Once there, they encountered a heartbreaking reality: a multitude of women suffering from obstetric fistula, a childbirth injury resulting in urinary or fecal incontinence. Obstetric fistula occurs when the fetus is unable to fit through the birth canal, leading to prolonged, obstructed labor for 4-5 days. Pressure from the baby’s head on the mother’s pelvis over an extended period of time causes tissue necrosis and the formation of an abnormal opening between the vagina and the bladder or rectum. This results in loss of bowel and/or bladder control in the mother and, in 93% of cases, the delivery of a stillborn baby in 93% of cases [2].

“This place will go on for many, many years until we have eradicated fistula altogether – until every woman in Ethiopia is assured of a safe delivery and a live baby.” 

– Dr Catherine Hamlin

Drs Catherine and Reg Hamlin 

Founded over 70 years ago, by pioneering Australian surgeon Dr Catherine Hamlin and her surgeon husband Dr Reg Hamlin, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia is dedicated to treating Ethiopian women who have suffered the most horrific childbirth injury: obstetric fistula. 

Obstetric fistula is an internal injury caused by an unrelieved obstructed labour during childbirth. Obstetric fistula leaves a woman incontinent, humiliated and grieving the loss of her child. Learn more about obstetric fistula here.

Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin met and married when 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 in 1959, a fellow gynaecologist said, “The fistula patients will break your hearts.” And indeed they did.

Catherine said: “we were touched and appalled by the sadness of our first fistula patient: a beautiful young woman in urine-soaked ragged clothes, sitting alone in our outpatients’ department, away from the other waiting patients. We knew she was more in need than any of the others. And so, we saw the first of many fistula patients.” 

These pioneering doctors from Australia never left Ethiopia. Instead, Catherine and Reg committed their lives to Ethiopian women and to improving maternal health care in the country they called home. 

They were relentless in their approach and refused to turn their backs on Ethiopia’s women. They worked through military unrest, famine, and a brutal civil war – all the while with an unwav

Australian obstetrician and gynecologist (1924–2020)

For the Sydney Harbour ferry, see Emerald-class ferry.

Elinor Catherine Hamlin, AC, FRCS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG (néeNicholson; 24 January 1924 – 18 March 2020) was an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her husband, New Zealander Reginald Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric fistula repair surgery to poor women with childbirth injuries. They also co-founded an associated non-profit organisation, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.

Hamlin was recognised by the United Nations agency UNFPA as a pioneer in fistula surgery for her development of techniques and procedures for obstetric fistula treatment. The Hamlins, together with the hospital staff, have treated more than 60,000 women to date for obstetric fistula. She died in Addis Ababa on 18 March 2020.

Family and education

Elinor Catherine Nicholson was raised in the Sydney suburb of Ryde, at "The Hermitage". One of six children of Elinor and Theodore Nicholson, she went to Frensham School in Mittagong, before attending the University of Sydney and graduating from its medical school in 1946. After internships at St Joseph's Hospital, Auburn NSW, and St George's Hospital, Kogarah, she became a resident in obstetrics at Crown Street Women's Hospital.

In 1950, she married New Zealander Reginald Hamlin QSO OBE, a physician and medical superintendent at Crown Street.

Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital

Main article: Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital

In 1958, the Hamlins replied to an advertisement placed by the Ethiopian government in The Lancet medical journal for an obstetrician and gynaecologist to establish a midwifery school at the Princess Tsehai Hospital in Addis Ababa, the hospital established by the emperor in honor of his daughter and grandch

Elinor Catherine Hamlin founded and helped fund centers in Ethiopia during the twentieth century to treat women affected by fistulas from obstetric complications. Obstetric fistulas develop in women who experience prolonged labor, as the pressure placed on the pelvis by the fetus during labor causes a hole, or fistula, to form between the vagina and the bladder (vesicovaginal fistula) or between the vagina and the rectum (rectovaginal fistula). Both of those conditions result in urinary or fecal incontinence, which often impacts women's social status within their communities. Hamlin co-founded a hospital to treat fistulas and helped fund health clinics, a rehabilitation center, and a midwife school. Her work in Ethiopia helped to help train the next cohort of midwives to treat women with obstetric complications and has contributed to the health and social well-being of Ethiopian women.

Hamlin was born Elinor Catherine Nicholson on 24 January 1924 to Elinor Nicholson and Theodore Nicholson in Sydney, Australia. She grew up in Ryde, a suburb of Sydney, as one of six children, including two sisters, Sheila and Alisha, and three brothers, Peter, Donald, and John. Hamlin lived on her family's estate, called the Hermitage, during her childhood. In 1936, when Hamlin turned twelve, she was sent to an all girls boarding school called Frensham in Mittagong, Australia. During her time at Frensham, Hamlin later said, she decided to become a doctor.

Hamlin graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Sydney Sydney, Australia, at the age of twenty-two in 1946. After graduating, Hamlin completed two internships at different hospitals in Sydney. She interned at St. Joseph's Hospital in the suburb of Auburn, and later at the St. George Hospital in the suburb of Kogarah. Hamlin applied for a resident's position at the Crown Street Women's Hospital in Sidney.

After her interview with the medical superintendent, Reginald Henry James Hamlin, Hamlin chose a career in