Kilindi registers progress in ending FGM

AMREF Health Africa Kilindi District manager, Jane Sempeho said through the project they managed to arrest and file a court case against two parents who forced their daughter to undergo the cutting.

She said the parents were sentenced to a seven-year jail term after they were found guilty for mutilating their daughter.

She said: “We still have one case pending at the court; this is due to the organization’s work to provide education on the negative impacts of FGM to the young girls.”

Young girls and women who undergo FGM risk their life because death can result from infections, including tetanus, as well as over bleeding when giving birth. They also experience urinary problems due to tissue swelling, pain or injury to the urethra.

The World Health Organization (WHO) report released in February this year considers FGM as a violation of human rights. It said the cutting does not have any health benefits to the girls.

According to the report, the cost of treatment for girls and women affected with FGM may reach 1.4bn/- per year internationally.

More than 300 girls in Kilindi District have been rescued from the brutal practice of FGM after the communities were reached with education through the AMREF project which was implemented in the district since 2014.

Sempeho said the organization has been able to reach 58 primary and secondary schools where girls were educated on the effects of FGM. She said the education was provided by 348 peer educators including 88 health workers trained by the organization.

“Girls acted as ambassadors where they spread the education to their fellow villagers, almost all the villagers are now aware of the impacts of FGM on girl’s health,” she said.

FGM leads to early marriages and child pregnancies; it is also associated with the girls’ premature deaths while delivering as mothers.

In 2015, 10 per cent of women aged between 15 and 49 years were found to have been subjected to FGM.

Article first published on ippmedia.com