Prevalence of female genital mutilation and its effect on women’s health in Bale zone, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundFemales’ genital mutilation (FGM) is one of the harmful traditional practices affecting the health of women and children. It has a long-term physiological, sexual and psychological effect on women. It remains still a serious problem for large proportion of women in most sub-Saharan Africa countries including Ethiopia.MethodsA community based cross sectional study design which is supplemented by qualitative method was conducted in 2014. A total of 634 reproductive age women were involved in the quantitative part of the study. The respondents were drawn from five randomly selected districts of Bale zone. The total sample was allocated proportionally to each district based on the number of reproductive age women it has. Purposive sampling method was used for qualitative study. Then, data were collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS for windows version 16.0. Multiple logistic regressions were carried out to examine the existence of relationship between FGM and selected determinant factors. Variables significant in the bivariate analysis were then entered into a multiple logistic regression analysis.ResultsIn this study, 486 (78.5%) of women had undergone some form of FGM with 75% lower and 82% upper confidence interval. To get married, to get social acceptance, to safeguard virginity, to suppress sexual desire and religious recommendations were the main reasons of FGM. The reported immediate complications were excessive bleeding at the time of the procedure, infection, urine retention and swelling of genital organ. Muslim women and women from rural areas were significantly more likely to have undergone the procedure. In addition to these, compared to women 15–20 years old older women were more likely to report themselves having undergone FGM.ConclusionsAlthough younger women, those from urban residence and some religions are less likely to have had FGM it is still extremely common in this zone. Deep cultural issues and strongly personally held beliefs which are not simple to predict or quantify are likely to be involved in the perpetuation of FGM. Efforts to eradicate the practice should incorporate a human rights approach rather than rely solely on the damaging health consequences.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice among mothers towards female circumcision Ombada province Khartoum state, Sudan

“…and its higher when compared with the study conducted in Mauritania (77%), Gambia (75.6%), Nigeria (50%) and lower than in Egypt (97%). 11,14,15,17,18 It was similar when compared with the study conducted in other countries like Sierra Leone (81.2%), also similar to the findings by Gruenbaum et al, in 2006 in Sudan. 19,20 However, there were many reasons for the persistent practice of (FC) were; to insure virginity, compliance religious instructions, avoid social stigma, good for prospective marriages were significant reason for the practice of (FC) with proportion of (52.2%), (32.9%), (10.2%) and(4.7%), respectively.…”

“…Similarly, in other study traditional birth attendants, parents, and relatives were the operators. 14,23 However, in the study conducted in rural Gambia all operations were undertaken by traditional operators also similar to the findings by SOAT et al in Sudan who found that more than 60 percent of those performing genital mutilation are traditional midwives. 24 Negative attitudes toward FC could play a significant role in the persistence of this practice in Sudan, in this study the attitude towards female circumcision was generally Negative attitude, i.e.…”

“…21 Another study by the same authors in 2014 showed the main reason of FGM was religion, safeguarding virginity, tradition, and social values were the major reasons for the perpetuation of this practice. 22 While (125.%) of mothers did not practicing female circumcision, because it is harmful practice (78.1%), no religious origin (12.5%) and affect girls education (9.6%), This is results lower than findings reported by Bogale et al in 2014 who report 26.7% of the respondents had intention for the continuation of FGM. 22 As shown in Table 3, Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) performed most of the female circumcision in study area (88.1%).…”

“…22 While (125.%) of mothers did not practicing female circumcision, because it is harmful practice (78.1%), no religious origin (12.5%) and affect girls education (9.6%), This is results lower than findings reported by Bogale et al in 2014 who report 26.7% of the respondents had intention for the continuation of FGM. 22 As shown in Table 3, Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) performed most of the female circumcision in study area (88.1%). This finding similar to results of the study conducted by Daniel et al, who found that most of the study participants reported the operation, is performed in their communities by traditional birth attendants and local old age people traditional birth attendants.…”

The effect of female genital mutilation on couple sexual function

“…These results were similar to results of Bogale et al, Ibrahim et al and Ibrahim et al Egyptian studies which illustrated that circumcised women were younger at the time of marriage and were mostly from rural areas. 16,22,23 Also, they were found to have a lower level of education with a mean age of FGM at (7.89±4.56), (10.5±1.3), and (9.7±2.1) years old respectively.…”