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Oman bans unexpectedly Female Genital Mutilation

30.9.2019. Two weeks ago, the Omani Ministry of Social Affairs und Development announced a change in the law protecting children. Now, the convention of the child includes a specific prohibition of female genital mutilation (FGM). This change in law came as a surprise to most observers. (more…)

Study finds: FGM is practiced by Saudi women

4.6.2019. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is common among many migrant groups in Saudi Arabia, e.g. women from Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Egypt. Therefore, Saudi gynecologists have long pointed to health complications accompanied with it and have specialized on treating the often severe consequences.Yet, it was so far believed that FGM is not practiced by the Saudi population or if, only by remote tribes at the Yemeni border. Now, a new survey conducted among 963 patients of the Kind Abdelaziz University Hospital shows that FGM is indeed also prevalent among Saudi women.

In the sample, almost 80 percent of the questioned women were of Saudi origin and only 175 women of the total 963 reported to have undergone FGM. Yet, of these 62,8 percent were Saudi. This is indeed a striking result and shows that further research in Saudi Arabia is needed.

On a positive note, the study found that FGM was more common among older women and that support for the continuation of the practice is low with only 5,3 percent wanting it to continue, while 68,7 percent wanted it to stop. Among the group who had undergone FGM support was higher with 18,3 percent wanting to continue it, yet still low compared to other regions were FGM is common and no awareness campaign has taken place.

 

Read the study:

Abdulrahim A Rouzi, Rigmor C Berg, Rana Alamoudi, Faten Alzaban, Mohammad Sehlo: Survey on female genital mutilation/cutting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2019

 

 

 

New Awareness Brochures against FGM distributed in Kurdistan-Iran

20.05.2019 The distribution of the Educational Brochure as a Risk Minimization Activity to raise awareness about FGM complications among residents of Javanrud and Salas.

 

fgm iran broch

 

Educational brochures are an important tool for raise awareness about FGM and its complications among in risk people. It is important to evaluate the impact of any risk minimization tool to understand the effectiveness of the strategy.

The objective of this work was to distribute of a targeted educational brochure among residents cities of Javanrud and Salas (Kermanshah Province) as a risk minimization strategy for the stop FGM in these important regions of Iranian Kurdistan.

Dr. Osman Mahmoudi and his team at Hamraz Counseling Center held a prospective, non-interventional study designed to distribute a special brochure designed to provide important new information on female genital mutilation and its complications to a specific urban population consisting of citizens of Salas and Javanrood in Kermanshah province.

The statistical population in this educational project included all women and girls over 18 years of age in the target cities. During pre-marriage classes in 2018 more than 2000 girls and women over the age of 18 in 15 rural and urban areas of Javanrud and Salas were directly trained by 20 trainers about female genital mutilation and its complications. And more than 2000 leaflets on female genital mutilation and its complications in these 15 urban and rural neighborhoods were distributed by the 20 trainers.

It’s important we noted that all of 20 trainers received advanced training about female genital mutilation and complications by Dr. Osman Mahmoudi prior to training and distribution of brochures. Distribution of targeted educational brochures may be an effective risk minimization strategy to raise awareness about FGM and its complications in Kermanshah; Educational brochures may also be an effective channel for sharing information on how FGM should be best managed and ended. The Campaign of Hamraz Counseling Center is hosted by Dr. Osman Mahmoudi. Over the past ten years, the campaign has been active in research, education, and counseling in the cities of Kermanshah (That women are more likely to be circumcised) in the field of female genital mutilation. If they receive more support for running their programs to stop FGM, these important activities can spread to other cities and provinces of Iran.