Trends and protective factors of female genital mutilation in Burkina Faso: 1999 to 2010

Abstract

BackgroundThe practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is common in several African countries and some parts of Asia. This practice is not only a violation of human rights, but also puts women at risk of adverse health outcomes. This paper analysed the trends in the prevalence of FGM in Burkina Faso and investigated factors that are associated with this practice following the enactment of an FGM law in 1996.MethodsThe study used the Burkina Faso Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data sets from women aged 15 to 49 years undertaken in 1999, 2003 and 2010. Chi square tests were carried out to investigate whether there has been a change in the levels of FGM in Burkina Faso between 1999 and 2010 and multilevel logistic regression analysis were employed to identify factors that were significantly associated with undergoing FGM.ResultsThe levels of FGM in Burkina Faso declined significantly from 83.6% in 1999 to 76.1% in 2010. The percentage of women circumcised between the ages of 0 to 5 years increased from 34.2% in 1999 to 69% in 2010. Significantly more women in 2010 than in 1999 were of the opinion that FGM should stop (90.6% versus 75.1%, respectively). In 2010, the odds of getting circumcised were lowest amongst women that were born in the period 1990 to 1995 (immediately before the FGM law was enacted) compared to women born in the period 1960-1965 [OR 0.16 (0.13,0.20)]. There was significant variation of FGM across communities. Other factors that were significantly associated with being circumcised were education level, religion, ethnicity, urban residence and age at marriage.ConclusionsAlthough the prevalence of FGM has declined in Burkina Faso, the levels are still high. In order to tackle the practice of FGM in Burkina Faso, the government of Burkina Faso and its development partners need to encourage girls’ participation in education and target its sensitization campaigns against FGM towards Muslim women, women residing in rural areas and women of Mossi ethnic background.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12939-015-0171-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Attitudes towards female genital cutting among adolescents in rural Burkina Faso: a multilevel analysis

“…It affects more than 200 million girls and women worldwide [1]. FGC appears to be becoming less common [2][3][4][5], but it remains a serious concern for health and mental well-being in many communities.…”

“…Evidence for modernisation theory is mixed. Urban residence is generally, but not always, associated with lower FGC prevalence and less support for its continuation [4,35,36]. Greater wealth is also inconsistently associated with lower FGC levels [2][3][4][5].…”

“…Urban residence is generally, but not always, associated with lower FGC prevalence and less support for its continuation [4,35,36]. Greater wealth is also inconsistently associated with lower FGC levels [2][3][4][5]. More-educated women are more likely to report opposing FGC continuation and having uncircumcised daughters [4,14,34,37], although there are exceptions [3,5,35].…”

“…Greater wealth is also inconsistently associated with lower FGC levels [2][3][4][5]. More-educated women are more likely to report opposing FGC continuation and having uncircumcised daughters [4,14,34,37], although there are exceptions [3,5,35]. Finally, media exposure is usually associated with pro-abandonment attitudes [38][39][40], again with exceptions [41].…”

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Mali and Mauritania: Understanding Trends and Evaluating Policies

“…2013; Satti et al. 2013; Chikhungu and Madise 2015). There are multiple overlapping reasons why FGM/C persists and changes across time, populations, and place, including as a marker of identity, status, gender, womanhood, ethnicity, or religion; for reasons of hygiene and aesthetics; and, as guarantees of honor, chastity, and marriageability (Van Der Kwaak 1992; Sayed, El‐Aty, and Fadel 1996; Shell‐Duncan and Hernlund 2000; El‐Gibaly et al.…”