The prevalence and risk of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting among migrant women and girls in the Netherlands: An extrapolation method.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kawous R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7144964 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:With emphasis on policy implications, the main objective of this study was to estimate the numbers of two main groups affected by FGM/C in Norway: 1) those already subjected to FGM/C and therefore potentially in need for health care and 2) those at risk of FGM/C and consequently the target of preventive and protective measures. Special attention has been paid to type III as it is associated with more severe complications.Register data from Statistics Norway (SSB) was combined with population-based survey data on FGM/C in the women/girls' countries of origin.As of January 1(st) 2013, there were 44,467 first and second-generation female immigrants residing in Norway whose country of origin is one of the 29 countries where FGM/C is well documented. About 40 pct. of these women and girls are estimated to have already been subjected to FGM/C prior to immigration to Norway. Type III is estimated in around 50 pct. of those already subjected to FGM/C. Further, a total of 15,500 girls are identified as potentially at risk, out of which an approximate number of girls ranging between 3000 and 7900 are estimated to be at risk of FGM/C.Reliable estimates on FGM/C are important for evidence-based policies. The study findings indicate that about 17,300 women and girls in Norway can be in need of health care, in particular the 9100 who are estimated to have type III. Preventive and protective measures are also needed to protect girls at risk (3000 to 7900) from being subjected to FGM/C. Nevertheless, as there are no appropriate tools at the moment that can single these girls out of all who are potentially at risk, all girls in the potentially at risk group (15,500) should be targeted with preventive measures.
| S-EPMC4739093 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundOwing to migration, female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) has become a growing concern in host countries in which FGM/C is not familiar. There is a need for reliable estimates of FGM/C prevalence to inform medical and public health policy. We aimed to advance methodology for estimating the prevalence of FGM/C in diaspora by determining the prevalence of FGM/C among women giving birth in the Netherlands.MethodsTwo methods were applied to estimate the prevalence of FGM/C in women giving birth: (I) direct estimation of FGM/C was performed through a nationwide survey of all midwifery practices in the Netherlands and (II) the extrapolation model was adopted for indirect estimation of FGM/C, by applying population-based-survey data on FGM/C in country of origin to migrant women who gave birth in 2018 in the Netherlands.ResultsA nationwide survey among primary care midwifery practices that provided care for 57.5% of all deliveries in 2018 in the Netherlands, reported 523 cases of FGM/C, constituting FGM/C prevalence of 0.54%. The indirect estimation of FGM/C in an extrapolation-model resulted in an estimated prevalence of 1.55%. Possible reasons for the difference in FGM/C prevalence between direct- and indirect estimation include that the midwives were not being able to recognize, record or classify FGM/C, referral to an obstetrician before assessing FGM/C status of women and selective responding to the survey. Also, migrants might differ from people in their country of origin in terms of acculturation toward discontinuation of the practice. This may have contributed to the higher indirect-estimation of FGM/C compared to direct estimation of FGM/C.ConclusionsThe current study has provided insight into direct estimation of FGM/C through a survey of midwifery practices in the Netherlands. Evidence based on midwifery practices data can be regarded as a minimum benchmark for actual prevalence among the subpopulation of women who gave birth in a given year.
| S-EPMC7325136 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundWe updated the indirect estimates for women and girls living with Female Genital Mutilation Cutting (FGM/C) in Switzerland, using data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office of migrant women and girls born in one of the 30 high-prevalence FGM/C countries that are currently living in Switzerland.MethodsWe used Yoder and Van Baelen's "Extrapolation of FGM/C Countries' Prevalence Data" method, where we applied DHS and MICS prevalence figures from the 30 countries where FGM/C is practiced, and applied them to the immigrant women and girls living in Switzerland from the same 30 countries.ResultsIn 2010, the estimated number of women and girls living with or at risk of FGM/C in Switzerland was 9059, whereas in 2018, we estimated that 21,706 women and girls were living with or at risk of FGM/C.ConclusionOver the past decade, there have been significant increases in the number of estimated women and girls living with or at risk of FGM/C in Switzerland due to the increase in the total number of women and girls originally coming form the countries where the practice of FGM/C is traditional.
| S-EPMC8164278 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to determine whether female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) exists in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.DesignA cross-sectional study.SettingKing Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.ParticipantsBetween December 2016 and August 2017, women attending the obstetrics and gynaecology clinics were asked to participate in a cross-sectional survey. This included questions on demographics, FGM/C status and type and attitudes towards the practice.ResultsIn a convenience sample of 963 women aged 18 to 75 years, 175 (18.2%) had undergone FGM/C. Compared with women without FGM/C, women with FGM/C were older, married, non-Saudi and had a lower monthly income. Thirty-seven (21.1%) women had had FGM/C with some cutting of body parts (type I or II), 11 (6.3%) with suturing (type III), 46 (26.3%) with no cutting of body parts (type IV) and 81 (46.3%) did not know their type of FGM/C. There was also a significant association between nationality and age at which FGM/C was performed, with Saudi women undergoing the procedure earlier than Egyptian, Somali, Yemeni and Sudanese women.ConclusionsFGM/C is prevalent in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, among immigrant women from other countries, and it is practised among Saudi women. Further research is needed to determine its prevalence.
| S-EPMC6549616 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a rising issue in western societies as a consequence of international migration. Our paper presents demography-driven projections of female flows with FGM/C from each practicing country to each EU28 member state for the 3 sub-periods 2016-2020, 2021-2025, and 2026-2030, with the aim of supporting resource planning and policy making. According to our projections, the EU28 countries will receive a flow of around 400,000 female migrants between 2016 and 2020, and around 1.3 million female migrants between 2016 and 2030 from FGM/C practicing countries. About one-third of them, corresponding to an estimated 127,000 between 2016 and 2020, and more than 400,000 between 2016 and 2030 will have undergone FGM/C before migration. Among these female flows, slightly more than 20% is expected to be made up of girls aged 0-14. According to the expected age at arrival, 20% of these girls are expected to have already undergone FGM/C, while slightly less than 10% are to be considered potentially at risk of undergoing FGM/C after migration. As the number of women with FGM/C in Europe is expected to rise at quite a fast rate, it is important to act timely by designing targeted interventions and policies at the national and at the European level to assist cut women and protect children. Such measures are particularly compelling in France, Italy, Spain, UK, and Sweden that are expected to be the most affected countries by migration from FGM/C practicing countries.
| S-EPMC6241076 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Nontherapeutic female genital modifications can cause short- and long-term consequences. Caregivers should promote women's self knowledge on genitals' anatomy and physiology, and psychophysical and sexual health. They should also inform on possible negative consequences of vulvar nontherapeutic alterations requested and avoid the medicalization of female genital mutilation.
| S-EPMC4693690 | biostudies-other
Project description:While Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) continues to garner global attention, FGM/C-affected migrant communities, who are often racialized minorities in the U.S., face additional challenges which may impact their physical and mental health and well-being. It has been proposed that an overly narrow focus on the female genitalia or FGM/C status alone, while ignoring the wider social experiences and perceptions of affected migrant women, will result in incomplete or misleading conclusions about the relationship between FGM/C and migrant women's health. A cross-sectional study was conducted across two waves of Somali and Somali Bantu women living in the United States, (n = 879 [wave 1], n = 654 [wave 2]). Socio-demographics, self-reported FGM/C status, perceived psychological distress, and self-reported FGM/C-related health morbidity was examined against self-reported experiences of everyday discrimination and perceived psychosocial support. In statistical models including age and educational attainment as potentially confounding socio-demographic variables, as well as self-reported FGM/C status, self-reported discrimination, and perceived psychosocial support, self-reported discrimination was the variable most strongly associated with poor physical health and psychological distress (i.e., FGM/C-related health morbidity and psychological distress), with greater perceived psychosocial support negatively associated with psychological distress, when controlling for all the other variables in the model. FGM/C status was not significantly associated with either outcome. Discrimination, more frequently reported among 'No FGM/C' (i.e., genitally intact or unmodified) women, was most frequently perceived as linked to religion and ethnicity. Our findings are consistent with views that discrimination drives negative outcomes. In this population, discrimination may include the 'quadruple jeopardy' of intersecting relationships among gender, race, religion, and migration status. We find that self-reported experiences of discrimination-and not FGM/C status per se-is associated with adverse physical and mental health consequences in our sample drawn from Somali migrant communities living in the United States, and that social support may help to mitigate these consequences. Our findings thus reinforce calls to better contextualize the relationship between FGM/C and measures of health and well-being among Somali women in the United States (regardless of their FGM/C status), taking psychosocial factors more centrally into account.Clinical Trials.Gov ID no. NCT03249649, Study ID no. 5252. Public website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03249649.
| S-EPMC10159850 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:The majority of women who undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) live in Africa. Although the UN Sustainable Development Goals call for intensified efforts to accelerate the abandonment of FGM/C, little is known about where in Africa the declines in prevalence have been fastest and whether changes in prevalence differ by women's socioeconomic status. METHODS:We use data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys for 23 African countries, collected between 2002 and 2016, and covering 293?170 women. We reconstruct long-term cohort trends in FGM/C prevalence spanning 35 years, for women born between 1965 and 1999. We compute absolute and relative changes in FGM/C prevalence and differentials in prevalence by women's education and urban-rural residence. We examine whether socioeconomic differences in FGM/C are converging or diverging. FINDINGS:FGM/C prevalence has declined fastest (in relative terms) in countries with lower initial prevalence, and more slowly in countries with higher initial prevalence. Although better-educated women and those living in urban areas tend to have lower prevalence, in some countries the opposite pattern is observed. Socioeconomic differentials in FGM/C have grown in the majority of countries, particularly in countries with moderate-to-higher overall prevalence. CONCLUSIONS:The documented relationship between absolute and relative FGM/C prevalence rates suggests that in settings with higher initial prevalence, FGM/C practice is likely to be more entrenched and to change more slowly. There is substantial variation between countries in socioeconomic differentials in prevalence and their changes over time. As countries change from higher to lower overall prevalence, socioeconomic inequalities in FGM/C are increasing.
| S-EPMC7554470 | biostudies-literature
Project description:(1) Background: Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is associated with physical and psychological complications. However, there is scarce literature on how women with FGM/C respond to treatment interventions. (2) Methods: In the present pilot longitudinal study, we assessed changes in general psychopathology (Symptom Check List-90-R), sexual functioning and distress (Female Sexual Function Index, Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) female sexual dysfunction criteria), body image (Body Shape Questionnaire), and sexual body image (Female Genital Self-Image Scale) in a sample of n = 15 women with FGM/C before and after reconstructive surgery. (3) Results: Sexual distress was significantly improved following surgery. We also observed an improvement in general psychopathology and genital self-image. However, sexual function was not improved. (4) Conclusions: These results provide evidence for the benefits of reconstructive surgery on sexual distress in women with FGM/C. The impact of surgery on sexual function cannot be conclusively evaluated.
| S-EPMC7463820 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundFemale genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a common practice in developing countries, including the UAE, and presents a major health problem.MethodsA questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1035 participants: 831 (80.3%) females and 204 (19.7%) males.ResultsThe number of women with FGM/C was 344; hence the prevalence of FGM/C in our study was 41.4%. Type I was the most prevalent (62.8%), followed by Type II (16.6%) and Type III (5%). FGM/C was less prevalent among educated and employed women (p-value <?0.001) and was mostly performed during infancy and childhood. Among the participants, 13.7% reported that their daughters had undergone FGM/C, with Type I being the most common, and 25% of them planned to have their future daughters undergo Type I FGM/C. While FGM/C was mostly performed by ritual circumcisers (74.4%), in 25 and 36.7% of the cases, it was performed by health professionals and in the clinic setting, respectively. About 69% of the participants considered FGM/C a custom, 72.8% were against the practice, and only 17.4% believed in its legality. Complications occurred in 30% of cases. The type of FGM/C was associated with the occurrence of complications: bleeding, difficulties in sexual life, and delivery-related problems (p-value <?0.05). One-fifth of the male participants expressed plans to circumcise future daughters (p-value <?0.001).ConclusionFGM/C remains a prevalent practice in the UAE and has a negative association with the general health of Emirati women. The lack of clear legislation to criminalize this practice is a problem to be addressed. In this context, national-level educational and legal strategies should be a priority.
| S-EPMC7178722 | biostudies-literature