Abstract

Back ground: The livelihoods of most the Somali regional state people are based on herding and their life styles are mobile. The harmful traditional practices particularly female genital mutilation seriously affects the well-being of children and women. The age at which FGM is performed varies according to the type of mutilation being done. Sunna is generally the type that is performed at a very young age and even soon after the birth. In case of excision and infibulations, the child is allowed to grow older and usually performed between seven and nine years of age. This study aimed to assess the current actual status of female genital mutilation in the Tulli and Ararso districts.

Methods: A total of 57 subjects were included for quantitative and qualitative analysis. In the two sites about 15 Men and Women, 9 Youth clubs, 5 Victims, 7 boys, 4 Circumcisers, 6 religious leaders or elders, 6 local governments, and 5 Women’s Associations were interviewed. Under the quantitative approach, a structured questionnaire was prepared and piloted and administered through interview of individuals that were included in the sample. 

Results: Interview of men and women revealed that 53.7% of females were circumcised at Tulli and Ararso Somali areas. Interview of youth club also showed that 40% of the circumcision practices were continued and culture of ancestors and protection of virginity were still the two common reasons for circumcision practices in the locality. In all respondents interviewed, Sunna is the most commonly practiced type of FGM and Pharaohnic is the second type.

Conclusion: Convincing discussions and focused training need to be given to men and women, youth clubs, victims, boys, circumcisers, religious leaders, local governments and women’s Association to eradicate the FGM practice in the areas since knowledge, attitude and behaviors of the individuals with regard to FGM are still mixed.

Keywords: Female Genital Mutilations; Harmful Traditional Practices; Circumcision; Cultural; Religious

References

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Citation

Citation: Reta Wakoya Anbesse., et al. “Knowledge Assessment on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Tulli and Ararso Districts, Somali Regional State, Ethiopia”.Acta Scientific Women's Health 2.3 (2020): 23-31.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Reta Wakoya Anbesse., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.