[1] It is the only hospital of its kind dedicated exclusively to treating women with obstetric fistula, a condition in the developing world where maternal health provisions are poor.

[2] In 1958, Catherine and Reginald Hamlin answered an advertisement in The Lancet for an obstetrician and gynaecologist to establish a midwifery school at the Princess Tsehay Hospital in Addis Ababa.

[citation needed] The Hamlin College of Midwives was established in 2006 to ensure that there is a skilled birth attendant available to provide maternal health care (pre-, intro- and post-natal).

The midwifery college is on land adjacent to Desta Mender ("Village of Joy"), where women with long-term injuries caused by obstructed labour reside, about 17 km from Addis Ababa.

[citation needed] The hospitals aim to cure 4000 women annually, but Hamlin cited the World Health Organisation's estimate that there are 6000-7000 cases a year in Ethiopia alone.

Additionally, some women have established small businesses that have enabled them to move out of Desta Mender to nearby towns and return to receive medical care or visit friends.

[7] The network of Hamlin Fistula Hospitals and the midwifery college are supported largely by private donors in Australia, the UK and the United States.

Money is also provided by World Vision, the Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation, England-based Ethiopiaid and funds paid into an endowment by the Australian Government.

In January 2004, Catherine Hamlin appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the 50 years of free reconstructive surgery that she has been providing to over 25,000 patients.