Catherine Hamlin is an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist, the co-founder of Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia with her late husband Dr. Reginald Hamlin.

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital is the world’s only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries which leave them with urinary and sometimes faecal incontinence. As a result of their injuries, the women find themselves outcasts – living on the fringes of society and abandoned by their husbands and families. The work of the Hamlins has meant that more than 34,000 women have been treated, restoring their health and dignity.

Catherine Hamlin was born in Sydney Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney in 1946. She met and married Dr Reginald Hamlin when they were both Senior Medical Administrators at Crown Street Women’s Hospital, Sydney. In 1958 they answered an ad in a medical journal for an obstetrician and gynaecologist to establish a midwifery school in the General Hospital in Addis Ababa. They then went to Addis Ababa in 1959 on a three year contract with the Ethiopian Government. They remained in Ethiopia and fifteen years later they founded Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Dr. Hamlin has been awarded honorary fellowships in the medical associations of Australia, England and the United States and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is author of the best-selling book, The Hospital by the River.

I admire her for her dedication over many years in often challenging circumstances.

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