At a time when the world is facing uncertainty and fear, the remarkable compassion of this selfless Australian woman's life shines a light into the darkness.

Gynaecologist and obstetrician Catherine Hamlin dedicated more than 60 years of her life to the care of vulnerable and marginalised Ethiopian women suffering horrific birthing injuries.

She died at her home in Addis Ababa this week, aged 96, but the legacy of her work means that hope and dignity remain options for pregnant girls and women in Africa.

Together with her late husband Dr Reginald Hamlin, Dr Hamlin set about eradicating the incidence of obstetric fistula, an entirely preventable condition occurring when a pregnant woman has laboured too long.

It is the major cause of maternal mortality in impoverished communities where those women and girls who survive childbirth — and sometimes lose their baby — must then live with a hole between their vagina and bladder or rectum, and face incontinence, shame, social isolation, and chronic health problems.

Preventing fistulas Obstetric fistula can largely be avoided by delaying the age of first pregnancy;

Obstetric fistula can largely be avoided by delaying the age of first pregnancy; The cessation of harmful traditional practices; and

The cessation of harmful traditional practices; and Timely access to obstetric care (Source: World Health Organisation)

"Women who live with this for months, even years, often have suicidal thoughts. Repairing this childbirth injury gives them new hope and new life," Dr Hamlin told the WHO in 2013.

According to the World Health Organisation, between 50,000 and 100,000 women worldwide are affected by this condition each year. The United Nations calls obstetric fistula a human rights violation and a failure to protect the world's poorest and most vulnerable women and girls.

Complexity and challenge

When Dr Hamlin and her husband arrived in Ethiopia in 1959 on a three-year contract to set up a midwifery school, they had never seen an obstetric fistula let alone repaired one. They were aware of the complexity of reconstruction involving urology, plastic and colorectal surgery, and gynaecology but refused to turn their backs on their patients.

Catherine Hamlin with midwives in Addis Ababa. ( Supplied: Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation )

"We didn't start with the difficult cases, we started with cases that we could do [and] once we were successful in curing these, we gradually took on the difficult ones," Dr Hamlin told the WHO.

"We came together with the same agenda to help people in a developing country and we felt motivated to come. I believe it was from God that we felt this urge to come. I just love the work and I love the people."

Within three years, word of their surgical technique had spread and their transformation of maternal healthcare in the country had begun. By 1974 they had established the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital with Dr Hamlin sewing surgical gowns and bedsheets herself.

'Exciting' change of life

Elinor Catherine Nicholson was born on January 24, 1924 and raised in the Sydney suburb of Ryde. She had five siblings and attended boarding school in the NSW Southern Highlands before graduating from the University of Sydney medical school in 1946.

It was while working as a senior medical officer at the Crown Street Women's Hospital in Sydney, that she met and fell in love with the man who became partner in compassion, Reginald.

They married in 1950 and had one son, Richard, who accompanied his parents to Addis Ababa — where the couple stayed for the rest of their lives, despite decades of political unrest and conflict.

Reginald and Catherine Hamlin with local nurses. ( Suppled: Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation )

"In those days, Addis Ababa was quite an exciting place to be; we had a big international community, which included many doctors," Dr Hamlin said.

"We did live through a bad period, but we couldn't have left. Who would run the hospital? Who would look after these women?

"They kept ringing us to say, 'The last plane out is tomorrow night. Are you ready?' My husband and I said, 'No, we are not leaving, we are going to stay here'."

Catherine Hamlin in 2008. ( Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation: Kate Geraghty )

Tributes for Peace prize nominee

Tributes from around the world have celebrated Dr Hamlin's humanity and advocacy, describing her as "brilliant and tireless", "a truly inspirational Australian", a "loved and respected humanitarian, and a "global treasure".

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Dr Hamlin was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was recognised with an AM in 1983 and an AC in 1995 for services to gynaecology in developing countries and was declared an Australian Living Legend. In 2016, a Sydney Harbour ferry was named in her honour at the public's suggestion.

More than 60,000 Ethiopian women have received life-saving reconstructive surgery through the work of those involved with the Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation.

"These women have suffered more than any woman should be called upon to endure. To meet only one is to be profoundly moved and calls forth the utmost compassion that the human heart is capable of feeling," Dr Hamlin said of her patients.

Dr Hamlin is survived by her son, three siblings, and four grandchildren. She will be buried alongside Reg, who died in 1993, in the British War Graves Cemetery in Addis Ababa. The Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation continues to support a program of midwife training and holistic rehabilitation, with 80 maternal clinics and five more hospitals offering women the chance for a safe birth.