Rhodney Kataka
The procedure of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM)comprises the involvement of partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. There are some risks associated with FGM including both short term and long term consequences. The short term consequences are severe pain, shock, bleeding, tetanus or bacterial infection, urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue. The long term consequences including recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, cysts, infertility, an increased risk of childbirth complications and newborn death [1-5] There are other consequences as well including death, life-long physical disability, life-long disability in sexual life, hindering natural physical movements, absence of erogenous feelings in sexual intercourse, severe pain and bleeding during and/or immediately after sexual intercourse, and cases of maternal death during delivery.In many settings where FGM is practiced it is justified because there is a natural consensus that if individuals do not perform FGM on their girls they risk being excluded,criticized, or even sigmatized . Although the government has tried to make this practice illegal communities such as the pokot disobey the law and continue to practice FGM.In order to abolish the harmful FGM/C practices, UN agencies implemented government-level advocacy initiatives and collaborative programmes with the Kenyan government and development organizations in Kenya. These indicated that assistance through joint involvement of international communities along with government could be more effective in implementation of Kenyan FGM act.
Finally, the study concluded that the girls and women did not support FGM. Although the Kenyan government has strong laws prohibiting FGM, enforcement of such laws was taking time. The study recommended that advocacy initiatives and integrated support from government, development agencies and international community to eliminate FGM.
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