The Pattern of Female Genital Mutilation in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria

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

“…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.…”

“…The common reasons cited for FGM were tradition (34.4 %), to ease difficult childbirth (26.9 %), and for better marriage prospects (21.5 %). These reasons are not uncommon for carrying out FGM in Nigeria [6, 14,15] except for difficult childbirth which is usually attempts at home births. Mutilation of pregnant women in labor is not unusual in this community since 90 % of the deliveries take place at home [6] and are usually assisted by the traditional birth attendants who are one of the operators of FGM in the community.…”

“…Despite these problems, this practice is still been carried out for various reasons irrespective of ethnicity or religion [12] and it has been reported to be influenced by level of education and the environment as daughters of urban and educated women are less likely to undergo FGM [12]. Although majority of studies on FGM in northern Nigeria [9,10,13,14] were urban area facility based, since the bulk of the FGM in Nigeria takes place during infancy [9], it is imperative to have an insight into the perception and attitude of pregnant women in rural setting to FGM. The findings from this study would assist in planning interventions to reduce the incidence and complications associated with this practice in the community.…”

Estimating geographic variations in the determinants of attitude towards the practice of female genital mutilation in Nigeria

“…A study among Yoruba-speaking women living in rural areas of the South West region of Nigeria reported about 77% of women believed that their circumcision lowered the potential dangers to an unborn child, while less than 10% realized the increased risks of childbearing after being cut (Orubuloye et al, 2000). In Port Harcourt city in Nigeria, Jeremiah et al (2014) found reduction of sexual passion in order to preserve virginity until marriage as a reason for cutting women. Other reasons for the practice include religious requirement, a prerequisite for marriage and initiation of girls into womanhood (Simister, 2010;Kandala & Komba, 2015).…”

“…The long-term psychological and physical trauma caused by female genital mutilation (FGM) and the world-wide advocacy to eradicate the practice have led researchers to adopt different analytical procedures to examine the origin, types and factors that favour the practice, especially in the developing world (Foster, 1992;Obi, 2004;Jeremiah et al, 2014;Setegn et al, 2016). However, since FGM data are usually collected over several locations and thus geo-referenced, most of the adopted methods, especially classical linear regression or correlation estimations, assume that the relationships being modelled are the same everywhere, thereby estimating, for each variable under consideration, a single value for all study locations.…”