Related Factors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Ravansar (Iran)

Abstract

This study was performed to determine the prevalence and related factors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in women visited at the health centers of the city of Ravansar In Kermanshah province, Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 348 women who were visited at 5 health centers of the city of Ravansar. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and women were examined about exist FGM. The prevalence of FGM was 55.7% among Ravansars' women. It increases with age and about 54.4% were circumcised less than 7 years age. Almost all operations were performed by traditional circumcisers 85.7%. FGM was correlated with mothers' education level (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), women's level of education (p=0.006) and the level of knowledge and attitude toward mutilation (p<0.001). FGM is a common practice in Ravansars' women. Improving the public knowledge regarding FGM and its consequences is extremely essential.

Epidemiology, Regional Characteristics, Knowledge, and Attitude Toward Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Southern Iran

“…Mohammed et al [23] also reported that among Egyptian women, tradition, cleanliness, and virginity were the most common motives for FGM/C continuation (100%), followed by men's desire, esthetic factors, marriage, and religion factors (45.2–100%). Our finding is consistent with a previous survey in Iran which showed that FGM/C is a social practice rather than a religious obligation [14]. Generally, there is no reason for FGM/C in Islam.…”

“…Tag‐Eldin et al [20] also showed that FGM/C among Egyptian women are mostly performed by local circumcisers who do not use local anesthesia. The data of the present study demonstrate that lower educational level is significantly associated with increased prevalence of FGM/C, which is consistent with previous reports from Iran and African countries [14,17,21–23]. The interesting finding of this study was that the FGM/C in southern rural areas of Iran was associated with Sunni Islam as religion.…”

“…We also demonstrated that positive family history of FGM/C in grandmother, mother, and sister is significantly associated with higher prevalence of FGM/C. Consistent with previous reports, we found that type I FGM/C was the most common performed procedure in the region [1,13,14,17,20,24]. However, clitoral nicking was even more common.…”

“…This shows that the prevalence of FMG/C is approximately high among rural areas of Iran. The mean age of the participants in the current study was 5.6 ± 3.6 years, which was lower when compared with previous reports from Iran (9.2 ± 14.2 years) [14]. We conclude that the practice is being performed among lower age groups in Southern Iran.…”

“…Such data would be helpful for understanding the variation in the frequency of FGM/C as well as trends for its performance despite the legislations. In addition, reports from Iran are scarce, and only few studies have addressed the issue, previously [13,14]. Accordingly, we performed the current study in order to estimate the prevalence of FGM/C and the knowledge and attitude of women toward it in Southern Iran.…”