1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Physician Education for Fistula Treatment Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Historically, obstetric fistulas affected women in the United States and around the world. Advances in obstetric care and access to improved surgical techniques resulted in a drastic reduction in obstetric fistula by the early 20th century in the United States. (2) Each year between 50,000 to 100,000 women worldwide are affected by obstetric fistulas, an abnormal opening between a woman’s genital tract and her urinary tract or rectum. (3) Women who experience an obstetric fistula suffer constant incontinence, shame, and social segregation and health problems. It is estimated that 2 to 3 million women live with untreated obstetric fistulas, a scourge of epidemic proportions. (4) A lack of available resources and training programs to develop expertise in comprehensive advanced pelvic reconstructive surgery continues to pose a challenge for the health care workforce in least developed countries. (5) Retention rates of OB–GYNs and sub-specialists in urogynecology have seen improvement with fellowships, residencies, and programs that provide resources and training. (6) Today, obstetric fistula primarily affects the poorest women in the poorest parts of the world. Obstetric fistulas typically occur because women do not have timely access to emergency obstetric care during obstructed labor, and continue to have fistulas due to lack of access to adequate surgical services once they sustain the injury. (7) Left untreated, an obstetric fistula afflicts a woman with devastating physical conditions: incontinence, painful ulcers, and constant and uncontrollable emission of offensive odors. These symptoms leave a woman indelibly and perpetually stigmatized by her condition. (8) Because obstetric fistulas are not themselves fatal, millions of women live with this horrific condition and have been overlooked by the international medical community. At present, humanitarian aid and