Begin Community Dialogue on FGM/C by Discussing Cultural Justification (2004)
This study is a Exploratory research regarding All FGM/C with the following characteristics:
Author(s): FRONTIERS collaborated with UNICEF
FGM/C Type(s): All
Health area of focus: None.
Objective: To better understand the community’s perception and practice of FGM/C,determine approaches to encourage its abandonment,
and identify how the health system could be more actively engaged in managing complications
and discouraging the practice
Study Population: community and religious leaders,married and unmarried men and women,health care providers,antenatal clients who had been cut,14 public and private clinics in the study region
Findings: Community perception: Support for FGM/C is very strong in the Somali community. All participating women and girls had been cut,and most were infibulated,though providers reported a gradual decline in the severity of the cut among younger girls. Many community members believed that Islam requires FGM/C,but religious leaders varied. Family beliefs strongly affect the continuation of the practice. Mothers and grandmothers act as the principal decision makers regarding cutting,though fathers must also give their consent. Medical care: This is a sparsely populated region with few health centers. Access to health care for cut women,including pregnant women,is limited even in areas where infibulation is nearly universal. This impedes medical management of FGM/ C,especially outside urban areas. Health facilities in North Eastern Province are poorly prepared to furnish safe motherhood services and even less prepared to care for infibulated pregnant women. . All the facilities in Nairobi had sufficient personnel,training,and equipment to provide essential obstetric care; but none of the facilities in North Eastern Province could do so. Counseling for infibulated ANC clients is limited. Less than one-fifth had received birth-planning information related to their infibulation,including potential delivery problems or discussion of whether or not to re-infibulate after delivery.
Geographical coverage
Region(s):Eastern Africa
Country(ies):Kenya