Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

2000

Abstract

About 94 percent of Malian women aged 15–49 have experienced female genital cutting (FGC). In Mali, FGC is associated with serious gynecological and obstetric complications. In 1998, the National Center of Scientific and Technological Research of the Mali Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education and Scientific Research conducted an evaluation of programs to eradicate FGC. The study assessed the work of three national nongovernmental organizations working in Bamako and five regions of Mali. These NGOs had attempted to persuade traditional practitioners of FGC (“excisors”) to abandon the practice. All three NGOs employed outreach workers to educate excisors and community members on the adverse effects of FGC on women’s health. Two NGOs developed income-generation schemes to provide the excisors with alternate revenues. One NGO sought to train excisors to advocate discontinuation of FGC. As this brief concludes, programs to persuade traditional practitioners to discontinue the practice of female genital FGC are ineffective, and interventions must address the demand for FGC rather than focusing on the supply.

Comments

Also available in French

DOI

10.31899/rh2000.1031

Language

English

Project

Frontiers in Reproductive Health

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