Female adolescents and the future of female genital mutilation/cutting: a report from an endemic area.
Afr Health Sci
; 21(4): 1808-1816, 2021 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35283977
ABSTRACT
Background:
Despite collaborative efforts aimed at its eradication, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) continues in endemic areas.Objective:
To evaluate the experience and preparedness of female adolescents to protect their future daughters from FGM/C.Methods:
A cross-sectional survey involving adolescent secondary school girls in North Central Nigeria. Participants were secondary school students who completed the study's self-administered questionnaire after informed parental or participant's consent. Data management was with SPSS 20.0 (IBM, USA), P-value <0.05 was significant.Results:
There were 2000 participants aged 13-19 years (mean 15.56±1.75), prevalence of FGM/C was 35.0%, awareness was 86.1%, mutilation was performed between infancy and eight years of age (mean 3.85±3.24 years), 644(32.2%) desire to mutilatetheir future daughters, 722(36.1%) expressed support for FGM/C and 63.1% of victims of FM/C reported adverse post-mutilation experiences. Support for FGM/C was associated with low social class (P0.0010), opinion that FGM/C has benefit (P0.001) and desire to mutilate future daughters (P0.001) while awareness of efforts to eradicate FMG/C was 813(40.7%).Conclusion:
FGM/C remains prevalent with potential support for its continuation among female adolescents despite reported adverse post-mutilation experiences. The multi-pronged approach to eradicate FGM/C should prioritize re-orientation for adolescent girls, rehabilitation of mutilated girls and girl child formal education.Palavras-chave
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Circuncisão Feminina
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article