A Gynaecologist at the National Hospital Abuja, Dr Maureen Umeh, has recently warned against female genital mutilation (FGM), describing it as an abominable practice.
Umeh said this during an interview in Abuja ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) scheduled for Feb. 6.
According to her, FGM includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. “It can also lead to cysts, infections, infertility, complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths,” she warned.
Most of the time, it is done without anesthesia for a child of that tender age as the child is exposed to chronic pain, bleeding, sometimes leading to death, Umeh said.
Some women or children were exposed to immediate or long term complication, adding that FGM was done to avoid infidelity in marriages and reduction in sexual pleasures.
The procedures are mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15, and occasionally on adult women, in the Western, Eastern and North-eastern regions of Africa, in some countries in Asia and the Middle East as well as among migrants from these areas.
Umeh called for public awareness on FGM and policy to totally stop the cruel practice in the country.
This practice violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity.
