UNFPA

Challenge

Obstetric fistula is one of the most devastating and least visible maternal health issues. Affecting over 2 million women globally, it’s not just a medical condition—it’s a byproduct of systemic gender inequity, poverty, and collapsed infrastructure.
UNFPA needed to humanize this issue—to turn policy into people. My role was to help the world see these women not as statistics, but as survivors.

Solution

I traveled on behalf of UNFPA to document the lived reality of women suffering from and recovering after obstetric fistula. The images I created appeared in Living Testimony, a landmark advocacy publication used across 29 countries to inform policymakers, train health workers, and raise awareness globally.

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Visual approach:

• Portraiture with dignity: Each image centered the subject’s humanity, not their condition
• Environmental context: Photographs captured the systemic barriers—distance, poverty, isolation—that shape outcomes
• Story as infrastructure: My work wasn’t just illustration—it was used to scaffold a call to action for health equity

 Impact

• Photos published in UN global policy reports, maternal health campaigns, and press kits
• Supported the Campaign to End Fistula, now active in 40+ countries
• Helped shift the visual narrative around reproductive health from abstract to intimate
• Informed strategic recommendations in 31 country-level maternal health assessments

“These images helped our audience understand not just what fistula is—but why it persists.”
— Angela Walker, UNFPA Global Advocacy Team

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Role

Commissioned photographer and narrative contributor. I worked directly with UNFPA field teams to capture authentic, respectful documentation of affected women, health workers, and community responses. My goal: make the invisible visible—without voyeurism, without pity, and always with integrity.

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