The following year, the film opened in theaters in the United States in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

A 52-minute version of A Walk to Beautiful that premiered on NOVA on PBS on May 13, 2008, won the 2009 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Informational Programming (Long Form) category on September 21, 2009, at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards ceremony on September 21, 2009, at Rose Hall, Lincoln Center in New York City.

Each of these five women chose to reclaim her life by taking the long and exhausting journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, so she could receive the medical treatment available only there.

Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 82 out of 100, based on six reviews, classifying A Walk to Beautiful as a universal acclaim.

"[6] According to The New York Times, A Walk to Beautiful quietly criticises a chauvinist society in some countries where women are considered "lovers, mothers, and servants", and anyone who cannot fulfill these roles is disregarded by her community.