Awareness, Perception And Practice Of Female Genital Mutilation Among Expectant Mothers In Jos University Teaching Hospital Jos, North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Background Methodology Results Conclusion: WHO estimates that some 130 million women worldwide are affected, and every year another 2 million girls and young women are at risk of undergoing the practice of FGM.Although Nigeria has a prevalence of 19% in 2003,a reduction from 25% prevalence of 1999 national survey, it still has high absolute number of cases with wide regional variation. The awareness and perception of expectant mothers may give an insight as to what awaits their unborn daughters and have a bearing on the future of the practice.: Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 260 expectant mothers at the antenatal clinic of Jos University Teaching Hospital between 1 and 31 July 2007.: Majority of the respondents (94.6%) were aware of FGM. Mass media was the main source of information. Majority(83.8%) wanted the practice to be discontinued, 31.3% reported having had FGM, most done by traditional healers. About 14.6% have a plan to circumcise their daughters citing tradition, marriage prospects, and faithfulness to husband as their reasons. Only 16.2% wanted the practice to continue.: There is high level of awareness of the FGM among respondents who also have negative attitude to the practice, even as the practice is still prevalent. More health education is needed to illustrate the dangers of the practice in order to safeguard the health of the girl-child.

Perception and attitude of pregnant women in a rural community north-west Nigeria to female genital mutilation

“…The 79.3 % awareness of FGM in this study is high; it is lower than the 91.4 % from Kano [13] and 94.6 % from Jos [16], all in northern Nigeria. However it is higher than the 53 % reported by the NDHS (2008) for women residing in rural area and also higher than the 39.4 % reported by the same report for the northwest zone [6].…”

“…However, these uncommon types are commonly practiced in other parts of the country [6] especially in the southern parts [14,15] and are also practiced in the urban areas in northern Nigeria [6,9,13,16]. About four of ten respondents that were aware of FGM had experienced it, and 56 % of them had Gishiri cut while 49 % had experienced Angurya cuts.…”

Prevalence and predictors of female genital mutilation among infants in a semi urban community in northern Nigeria

“…Nevertheless, the prevalence of FGM of 47.8% observed in this study is similar to the 49.6% reported from Abakaliki south-east Nigeria [26] but is lower than the 65.5% reported from a community based study in Ilorin north-central Nigeria [27]. It is however higher than the 39.1% reported in Birnin Kudu north-west Nigeria [14], the 31.3% from Jos also in north-central [28] and the 13.1% among infants in Kano, north-west Nigeria [16]. The commonest type of FGM observed in this study was Type I, which is similar to findings reported from Kano [16] but its prevalence of 73.5% is however lower than the 96.2% noted in Kano.…”

Female Genital Cutting: An Evidence-Based Approach to Clinical Management for the Primary Care Physician

“…Despite the fact that there is no scriptural support for FGC in the Koran or the Bible, many women cite religious duty or cultural tradition as reasons for continuing FGC in their communities. [24][25][26][27][28] Although it is challenging to find clear evidence of FGC in early literature, FGC has been present in the regions of Africa where it is practiced for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Writing in approximately 24 AD, Strabo states, "One of the customs most zealously observed among the Aegyptians is this, that they rear every child that is born, and circumcise the males, and excise the females.." 29 No single religion appears to be associated with a higher prevalence of FGC across locations where FGC is practiced.…”