By Mercy Abalaku | Program Officer
Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains widespread in Nigeria. With an estimated 19.9 million survivors, Nigeria accounts for the third-highest number of women and girls who have undergone FGM worldwide. While the national prevalence of FGM among women in Nigeria aged 15-49 dropped from 25 percent in 2013 to 20 percent in 2018, prevalence among girls aged 0-14 increased from 16.9 percent to 19.2 percent in the same period, according to NDHS figures. An estimated 86 percent of females were cut before the age of 5, while 8 percent were cut between ages 5 and 14. 68 million girls worldwide were estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation between 2015 and 2030. As COVID-19 continues to close schools and disrupt programs that help protect girls from this harmful practice, an additional 2 million additional cases of FGM may occur over the next decade.
https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/press-releases/unicef-warns-fgm-rise-among-young-nigerian-girls
Every day, harmful practices like FGM are depriving millions of girls in Nigeria of their childhoods, health, education, and goals. The practice of FGM has no health benefit at all; instead, it is harmful to girls and women and affects them negatively. FGM has serious implications for the physical, psychological, sexual, and reproductive health of girls and women. However, this practice should be abandoned in our societies.
To build communities that are secure for girls and women, ultimately free from FGM, in November 2023, EVA has intensified its initiatives in Imo and Ebonyi states. The capacity of 48 peer mobilizers in schools was built on ending FGM in the two states. The 48 girls, 25 from Ebonyi and 23 from Imo state, were trained with life skills, Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Gender-Based Violence and Female Genital Mutilation to serve as school ‘End FGM champions’. The girl champions,under the supervision of their teachers who also participated in the training, established school clubs/safe spaces where they reached 1,283 adolescent girls and young women with information on ending FGM, addressing GBV and life skills. The 48 girls collected and documented twenty five stories of FGM survivors and provided them with psychosocial support in the process. The girl champions are currently holding safe spaces to discuss the health issues and other challenges associated with FGM on girls and work towards its eradication with the target of reaching eight thousand additional adolescent girls in one year.
Some of the stories are collected for survivors.
It was a horrible day in my life that I will not forget. The pain, the healing process, the inconveniences, and the trauma. I will never allow any of my female children to be circumcised in my life as long as I am alive and a mother in the future. Pauline 12
A few years after my birth, my clitoris was cut off by my elder sister, who was a midwife, and she always travelled from one state to another to perform FGM on other females, both old and young. Luckily for me, I didn't bleed much, but I suffered serious pain while growing up. After secondary school, I got pregnant. A few months later, I gave birth to a baby girl. After I saw my baby girl, I held her in my arms and promised myself that none of my female children would be circumcised for any reason. Lola 13.
By Mercy Abalaku | Program Officer
By Mercy Abalaku | Program Officer
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