Female Genital Mutilation Is a Violation of Reproductive Rights of Women: Implications for Health Workers

The Perception of African Immigrant Women Living in Spain Regarding the Persistence of FGM

Approximately 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) worldwide. Migration has spread the practice of FGM around the world, thus making it a global public health issue. The objective of this descriptive qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of Sub-Saharan immigrant women in Spain in relation to the causes of the persistence of FGM. In-depth interviews were carried out with 13 female FGM survivors of African origin, followed by inductive data analysis using ATLAS.ti software. Two main themes emerged from the analysis: (1) A family ritual symbolic of purification and (2) a system of false beliefs and deception in favour of FGM. The FGM survivors living in Europe are aware that FGM is a practice that violates human rights yet persists due to a system of false beliefs rooted in family traditions and deception that hides the reality of FGM from young girls or forces them to undergo the practice. The ritualistic nature of FGM and the threat of social exclusion faced by women who have not had it performed on them contributes to its persistence nowadays.

Towards characterization of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in rural Nigeria

Background

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a public health challenge and seems to be secretly practiced in some rural communities, despite the ban in Nigeria.

Objectives

The study aimed to identify the activities that are involved in FGM, type(s) of FGM practiced and the knowledge of health implications of FGM among rural community members in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Methods

We employed exploratory design using qualitative technique. In-depth interviews were conducted with 44 adult (18 years and older) volunteers in four rural communities in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. After thematic analysis using NVivo 11 Pro software, eight sub-themes emerged, among which are: types of FGM practiced, seasons for FGM, FGM by health workers and community leaders, punishment for refusing FGM and knowledge of health implications of FGM.

Results

Findings show that FGM is more like a process than just an act, and type most practiced in the study area is Type 1. Circumcisers are health workers and women leaders. Knowledge of health implications of FGM was found to be low among those interviewed.

Conclusion

Based on the findings, we concluded that FGM is still practiced in some rural communities in Nigeria, maybe because of poor knowledge of health implications of FGM.

Health care-seeking patterns for female genital mutilation/cutting among young Somalis in Norway

BACKGROUND

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a great concern, considering all the potential health implications. Use of health care services related to FGM/C by women who have been subjected to FGM/C in Norway remains to be understood. This study aims to explore the health care-seeking patterns for FGM/C-related health care problems, among young Somalis in Norway.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study involving 325 young Somalis in Oslo was conducted in 2014 using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) technique. The RDS was initiated by a small number of recruited seeds, who were given coded coupons to recruit their peers to participate in the study. Eligible recruiters who participated in the study and redeemed their coupons created the first wave of respondents. The first wave further recruited their peers, the second wave. The cycle continued to attain the needed samples. Using interviews and structured questionnaires, data on socio-demographic, FGM/C status and FGM/C-related use of health care were obtained. Logistic regressions were used to compute the odds ratio (OR) and the confidence interval (CI) for the associations between demographic variables, to circumcision status and health care-seeking for FGM/C. This study will focus on the 159 female participants of the total 325.

RESULTS

While 51.6% of the 159 women were subjected to FGM/C, only 20.3% of them used health care services for FGM/C-related problems. Women's FGM/C status was associated with age ≥ 12 years at migration, experience of stigma regarding FGM/C practice (p <  0.05), support of FGM/C practice, and place of birth of women (p <  0.05).

CONCLUSION

Only one-fifth of the women with FGM/C sought care for FGM/C-related health problems. Our study does not provide the answers to why only a few of them sought care for FGM/C. However, as a large proportion of women did not seek care, it is important to investigate the reasons for this. For, we propose to conduct further research targeting girls and women who have undergone FGM/C to assess challenges in accessing health care services for proper intervention.