December 31, 2008, Kathmandu, Nepal: Six months after a promise to provide 12,000 free surgeries to women suffering from uterine prolapse, Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population has yet to live up to its words, according to the Nepali news website MyRepublica.com.

The site reports that the ministry had set aside 180 million Nepali rupees to meet the target within the current fiscal year. But with six months to go, they still haven’t finalized the regulations or systems needed to realistically provide the free surgeries. Health institutions within the government sector are incapable of conducting all the surgeries alone, and the ministry has yet to identify other institutions with the facilities to provide the treatment.

Uterine prolapse is a debilitating condition in which the muscles supporting the uterus weaken, causing it to descend into the vaginal canal. Some of the women live for years with the uterus completely outside of the body, and many need hysterectomies.

The Advocacy Project (AP) is working with the Uterine Prolapse Alliance (UPA) in Nepal to raise awareness of the condition, which is often caused by women carrying heavy loads and working soon after childbirth. In 2008, AP sent two Peace Fellows, Nicole Farkouh and Libby Abbott, to Nepal to work on the issue, and has since posted web pages profiling women with the condition.