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Your Excellency Mr. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Republic of Togo,
Distinguished First Ladies,
Honourable Ministers,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my privilege to join the call for transformative action and partnerships to put an end to obstetric fistula in West and Central Africa by 2030.

I thank the Governments of Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia and Togo for their historic coalition with the United Nations Population Fund.

We know that achieving our shared goal will require all hands on deck.

Obstetric fistula is a preventable childbirth injury with devastating consequences.

It leaves many women and girls incontinent and often stigmatized, abused and isolated from families and communities.

Child marriage, poverty, and a lack of bodily autonomy put vulnerable girls at particular risk.

Fistula is a violation of human rights.

In 2018, the international community resolved to end fistula once and for all within a decade.

Today – despite clear signs of progress – an estimated half a million women and girls are forced to live with this debilitating condition.

Thousands more are afflicted each year, many in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yet ending fistula by 2030 is still within our reach.

It is a crucial component of the Sustainable Development Goals.

But we need greater investments, predictable financing, and strategic partnerships to strengthen health systems and eliminate health inequities.

We need greater transparency and better monitoring to bring the full scale of the issue to light.

We need to address harmful practices - notably child marriage.

And we need to accelerate inclusive, women-centred, sustainable development.

Only concerted and determined action - backed by political will - can eradicate fistula and safeguard the health and dignity of women and girls everywhere.

Together, let us reaffirm our shared commitment to end obstetric fistula - and let us translate that commitment into concrete action today.

Thank you.