Vesicovaginal fistula is a hole that develops between a woman's vagina and her urinary bladder, usually as a result of prolonged obstructed labour, resulting in continuous or intermittent urine leakage down their legs. The purpose of the study was to have a general overview of the burden of Vesico-vaginal fistula in 50 patients case-notes with urinary and/or stool leakage at the Aberdeen Women's Centre, Freetown city within the period under review. The specific objectives of this study were to investigate; the prevalence/burden of VVF, the risk factors contributing to it, the age distribution, the mode of delivery and the physical and psychosocial impacts of this condition on affected women. The results reveal an overall prevalence/burden of VVF to be 90% with prolonged obstructed labour with difficult vaginal delivery being the main associated cause (80%). Another reported associated cause was shown to be cesarean section (6%). It also shown that patients with ages 15-19 accounted for the highest number of fistula patients (28%) followed by ages 20-24 (20%). Ages 10-14 accounted for only 4%. In all, the age range 15-34 accounted for 82% as these are part of the sexually active reproductive age. Furthermore, the study reveals that a total of 30 patients (60%) were recorded for both stigmatization and depression which was highly responsible for the mental ill health of the patients. The high incidence of VVF is shown to be associated with low socio-economic status of women compounded with cultural and religious beliefs and practices as depicted in the conceptual framework for the risk management systems of fistulas. To reduce both the incidence and social impact of the consequences of VVF, it is recommended that women's status be improved through education, employment and teaching of income-generating skills to augment their resources in addition to creating community awareness at all levels as this involves reaching different target groups that make up the community such as leaders at national, regional and local levels including politicians, health professionals,

At least 200 million women want to use safe and effective family planning methods, but are unable to do so because they lack access to information and services or the support of their husbands and communities according to UNFPA.In a country like Sierra Leone where access to family planning is limited and coupled with the religious and cultural beliefs and practices, many of the women and especially those in the rural areas face numerous barriers to accessing and utilizing family planning services. Understanding some of these barriers can contribute to the development of health promotion strategies and/or influencing policy development in the promotion of family planning uptake not only in the study community but the country as a whole. The main aim is to investigate factors that limit access and utilization of family planning services by adolescents in the study area. A descriptive crosssectional study was carried out. Respondents were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Questionnaires and observational checklists were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Excel.The results revealed that, a total of 261 respondents were interviewed about the use of contraceptives, 64% are using modern methods, 18% are using natural method. 53% of the respondents are using family planning to prevent unwanted pregnancy, 42.6% said it was not easy to get family planning commodities. 39% of the respondents got their information from health workers. The study further revealed that Individual and community characteristics were significant predictors of use of modern contraceptives in Safroko limba chiefdom and thus these factors should be taken into account in programming for family planning in the country.