DAR ES SALAAM , 4 Dec 2006 (IRIN) - The practice of female
genital mutilation (FGM) is on the decline in Tanzania, according to the results
of a study by the country's Ministry of Health.
Released on 1 December,
the Tanzania Demographic Health Survey showed that FGM prevalence had declined
from 18 percent in 1996 to 15 percent in 2005, when the survey was carried
out.
"More efforts are needed by various stakeholders to ensure the
practice is eradicated," said Ananilea Nkya, director of the Tanzania Media
Women Association, a local non-governmental organisation.
Local NGOs
attributed the decline in the number of girls undergoing FGM to continued
awareness campaigns against the practice.
"The campaigns have had
positive results, including a recent decision by 190 mutilators to lay down
their tools in Kilimanjaro region," said Helen Kijo-Bisimba, director of the
Legal and Human Rights Centre. She urged the government to increase its funding
of projects aimed at eradicating gender-based violence, including FGM.
FGM involves the cutting and/or removal of the clitoris and other
vaginal tissue, often under unsanitary conditions. It is practised in at least
28 countries globally. The United Nations children's fund, Unicef, estimates
that up to 140 million girls and women around the world have undergone some form
of FGM. It is practised extensively in Africa, and also found in parts of the
Middle East and among immigrant communities around the
world.
Human-rights activists have put pressure on governments to
legislate against FGM. At least 16 African countries have banned the practice,
and the Maputo Protocol, an African regional document that explicitly prohibits
and condemns FGM, came into force in November 2005.
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