Changing attitudes to female genital mutilation: an integrative research review of recent literature on FGM in Nigeria.

Abstract

In Nigeria, 19.9 million girls and women aged between 15 and 49 years underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) between 2004 and 2015, making it a red-flag nation in terms of the practice. The paper notes the issues of bodily, medical, sexual and psychological harm and disability associated with the practice of FGM, and reviews societal attitudes to the practice of the subject in Nigeria as portrayed by the literature, especially in light of recent intervention efforts by different tiers of government, and non-governmental organizations, employing an integrative research review of 14 published articles on the subject, and concludes that changes in attitude to the practice in Nigeria have not been as significant as statistics suggest.