Dr Andrew Browning - A Doctor in Africa

Including a preface by HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne.

The Australian doctor saving the lives and dignity of thousands of women in Africa, one surgery at a time.

From Ethiopia to Sierra Leone, Tanzania to Togo, Dr Andrew Browning has been helping women affected by obstetric fistulas a debilitating condition resulting from obstructed childbirth for nearly two decades. Andrew began his African career in the 1990s working with the late Dr Catherine Hamlin and since then has started the Barbara May Foundation, which has built hospitals, trained staff and established programs to heal fistulas and also prevent them from occurring around Africa in the worlds most disadvantaged women.

Two million African women are estimated to be suffering with obstetric fistulas. They are often made outcasts in their own community, unable to leave their homes and left with little prospect of a happy, fulfilling life. Andrews operations, and the spread of fistula-skilled surgeons he is training across the continent, dont just relieve the emotional and physical pain of the women affected, but give them hope and a future.

A Doctor in Africa is the uplifting story of Andrews life, from the challenges faced along the way to the stories of the women whose lives he has forever changed.

All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the Barbara May Foundation.

I dedicate this book to all the women who have suffered a fistula when they never should have, given it is so easily prevented if only we cared enough to help.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

There are few more important times in a womans life than the time she gives birth to a child. For too many women in the world childbirth can have devastating consequences, death or complications leading to a life of isolation and shame. I have seen firsthand the gift of healing given back to some of the poorest women in the world who suffer from fistula after childbirth. With fistula eradicated in the Western world little is known about this debilitating condition beyond the shores of Africa and other developing nations. A Doctor in Africa lifts the lid on the silent shame of fistula injuries.

I met Dr Browning in Ethiopia in 2002 on my second visit to Dr Catherine Hamlins fistula hospital. He has since started his own fistula charity to take the work started by Dr Hamlin and spread it over the rest of Africa and also the world. In 2019 the charitys hospitals provided the safe delivery of more than 15,000 babies at no cost to the mothers and slightly less in 2020 due to a drop in funding related to COVID-19. I have also recently become Patron of Dame Anne Gloags fistula charity, based in the UK and working in Africa.

I applaud the work of Dr Browning and his peers to treat this condition. A Doctor in Africa is as uplifting as it is tragic, but in the end leaves you with a sense of hope.

I was delighted to accept the Barbara May Foundations invitation to write the Foreword to A Doctor in Africa. The Foundation was established in honour of the authors grandmother and provides lifesaving maternal health care in Africa.

A Doctor in Africa is an autobiography by Dr Andrew Browning AM that highlights in meticulous detail the important work of the Foundation and varied experiences on the continent. Dr Browning has spent 17 years in Africa operating on more than 7,000 women suffering from obstetric fistulas, a debilitating condition caused by obstructed childbirth. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 women worldwide are affected by this condition each year.

While the subject matter of this book is confronting and contains some disturbing stories it is, ultimately, an uplifting read; a triumph of one mans determination, no matter the obstacles, to improve the lives of fellow human beings. Dr Browning, who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019 for services to the medical profession in developing countries, has helped transform the lives of thousands of women. I cannot imagine the pain and suffering these women have gone through.

Joys story, at the start of the book, is both heart-wrenching and inspiring, while the Miracle of Missay will warm the cockles of the heart. The chapter Reflections contains a lovely description of a conversation over lunch in late 2019 between Dr Browning and his then frail mentor, the late Dr Catherine Hamlin AC a remarkable Australian who dedicated her entire adult life to caring for Ethiopian women suffering birth injuries.

I commend all involved in the production of A Doctor in Africa. It is an absorbing read and a comprehensive account of Dr Brownings life and career thus far.

I congratulate Dr Browning for instilling hope and bringing joy to the lives of many women around the world.

I had arrived in my creaking old LandCruiser, after struggling through the gears of the ageing gearbox along roads that tested its four-wheel drive capability. It was just after dawn in the small rural northern Tanzanian hospital I was working at. As I greeted the staff everyone smiled, dressed in incredibly crisp white doctors coats and white nurses uniforms contrasting with their dark skin. A couple of patients had arrived overnight and were eager to be seen. They were typical of many of my patients squatting nervously on the floor outside the examination room, dressed in clothes soaked in urine, too ashamed of their smell and appearance to raise their heads to greet me.

Habari za asubuhi, I offered as I made my way to the chapel for the morning service with the staff. A weak smile and a faint Nzuri was the reply. No one lifted their heads.

As the chapel service began, farmers were laughing as they dug in the field outside. The sound of their thud thud of hoe meeting the ground went in time with the singing in the chapel. The early morning sun poured, golden through the hospital. Standing there with all my friends and colleagues who had made me so welcome in a country that wasnt my own, it felt good to be alive.

Back in the ward, Joy was the first lady for me to examine. Having just come from morning prayers with the staff, led by the chaplain, the beautiful sound of voices singing, as only Africans can, rang in my ears.

I took the history with the help of Agnes, a very capable nurse, who translated for me. How old are you?