Concepedia

Abstract

Traditional practitioners who are not usually medically trained perform the majority of FGC procedures. In many cases the practitioner comes from a family in which generations of women have been traditional practitioners. In some countries daughters are just as likely to be cut by traditional practitioners as their mothers were. In other countries medical professionals increasingly perform the procedure especially on younger girls although this does not necessarily make the practice safer. This report presents an overview and recent statistics about the practice of FGC a summary of FGC abandonment approaches and a brief discussion of projects in four countries (Egypt Kenya Senegal and Uganda) identified as promising by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). Finally the report offers guidance to policymakers and program managers involved in implementing FGC abandonment policies and activities. (excerpt)