Health workers vow to end female genital mutilation in Osun

Health workers in Osun State have vowed to champion the advocacy against female genital mutilation (FGM) and ensure total eradication of the practice in the state.

The workers made the pledge at the weekend after a three-day capacity building training organised by the Action Health Incorporated, a non-profit organization, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The training focused on the operationalization of referral pathway and utilization of protocol and case management forms to provide services at community levels.

The participants, selected from the Olorunda and Boripe local government areas of the state, described the training as “very useful” and came at the right time when all efforts were required to end FGM.

The facilitators highlighted the dangers and consequences of the practice and charged the health workers to shun and discourage it.

One of the health workers, Kudirat Olajumoke Adepoju, a nurse, said the training was an eye-opener and pledged to intensify efforts to accelerate the eradication of FGM

Addressing the participants, the Director of Public Health in the state, Dr Gbenga Adepoju, said although the FGM practice rate in the state had reduced, more efforts were required by all stakeholders to ensure its eradication.

Adepoju urged all health workers to ensure strict compliance with the principle of ‘do no harm’ and utilize the training in providing adequate services to FGM survivors and women and girls who were at risk.

The AHI Programme Officer, Ms Nuriyat Abdulrasheed, quoting figures from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, noted that about three in 10 women between the ages of 15 and 49 years had been subjected to a form of FGM in the country, putting the prevalence rate at 24.5 per cent.

Abdulrasheed said though the number was declining, it was still “unacceptably high.”