A few years ago Natalie Imbruglia had never heard of obstetric fistula. Now the Australian singer-songwriter is on a mission to help prevent a crippling childbirth injury that affects at least two million women.

During two trips to Africa, the entertainer and actress saw first-hand how devastating one of the world's worst pregnancy disabilities can be for women.

After agonising days in labour without medical assistance women in poor countries suffer tissue damage, lose their babies and are left with chronic incontinence. Often they are ostracised by their husband, family and community.

"It just should not be happening, that women cannot safely have a child in this day and age," Imbruglia said in an interview.

"How can you not be compelled to want to draw attention to this issue?"

"If you could help just one of these women, to me, it is literally giving that woman her life back. That is how I think about it," said the 31-year-old who shot to fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours in the early 1990s.

Imbruglia is working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which launched in 2003 the first global campaign to end fistula.

- Reuters