A religious oriented approach to addressing FGM/C among the Somali community of Wajir, Kenya

Type Book
Title A religious oriented approach to addressing FGM/C among the Somali community of Wajir, Kenya
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2008
Publisher Population Council, Frontiers in Reproductive Health
URL http://www.iiav.nl/epublications/2008/Religious_Oriented_Approach_to_addressing_FGC.pdf
Abstract
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) also known as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and Female Circumcision is practiced in 28 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, a few countries in the Middle East and Asia, and among immigrant populations from these countries in Europe, North America and Australasian1 . As many as 100-140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone the practice, and at least two million girls are at risk of being cut each year, about 6,000 girls a day. An estimated 15% of all genital mutilations in Africa are infibulations, also known as pharaonic practice and it is the most severe of all 2 . In Kenya, the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey indicates that although the national prevalence rate is declining slowly over time, almost one-third of all women aged 15-49 years interviewed reported having been circumcised. The survey demonstrates huge differentials in prevalence across ethnic groups, however. Among three groups, the Kisii (96%), Maasai (94%), and Somali (97%), the prevalence is virtually universal, whereas there are other groups, such as the Taita/Taveta (62%), Kalenjin (49%) and Meru/Embu (41-43%) where almost half the women are cut 3 . There are also marked variations in the age at which the procedure is carried, out, the type of cutting done, and the reasons for sustaining the practice

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