WUNRN
Interventions to Reduce the Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
in African Countries
Author: Rigmor C. Berg and Eva Denison
Date: 2013
Size: 155 pages (1.7 MB)
Access full text: available online
This systematic review examined empirical research on: the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the prevalence of FGM/C in African countries; and on contextual factors that may help explain the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of such interventions. It was hampered by a lack of available information. However, it identified that all of the interventions were based on a theory that dissemination of information improves cognitions about FGM/C, but the interventions’ success was contingent upon a range of contextual factors. Its findings included that educational sessions for men and women demonstrated an increase in awareness of the risks of FGM/C.
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) has negative health consequences for women, ranging from pain, bleeding, and shock due to chronic infections. Around 140 million girls and women live with the risks caused by FGM/C, of which 92 million girls and women are in Africa. In December 2012, 194 UN member states passed a resolution for intensifying the efforts to ban the practice across the globe.
The review included eight effectiveness studies, which involved 7,042 participants from different African countries including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia/Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Twenty seven context studies were included from those countries where an intervention study had already taken place (except Ethiopia).
The findings show that much work remains to be conducted regarding the evaluation of FGM/C abandonment efforts. There is a need to conduct methodologically rigorous intervention evaluations. Such studies should address the local communities' enforcement systems that support FGM/C and be based on a sound theory of behaviour change. Findings from the review suggest that:
See also the 3ie policy brief on the review’s findings.
Source: Berg, R. and Denison, E. (2013) Interventions to Reduce the Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in African Countries Systematic Review 009. The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)