CBOs called to join FGM fight

PIC: The perfromers of FGM do not follow standard operating procedures, thus transmitting infections to young girls thorugh the objects they use. (Credit: file photo)

KAMPALA - Community based organisations (CBOs) should be integrated in efforts geared towards ending female genital mutilation (FGM), the commissioner for youth and children affairs, Kyateka Mondo, has urged.

Speaking during a dialogue on FGM organised by Rego Foundation, Mondo observed that involving CBOs and allowing them take lead in the fight against the practice will help in realising the intended goals for the Government.

He said as much the Government has come up with various interventions to end the practice, many elderly persons are involved in the practice where they are said to earn money.

"Although there are set laws against FGM, the elderly women do it illegally as their means of survival," he said.

Addressing youth at Hotel Africana who had convened to celebrate the world FGM day, Mondo said the Government community dialogue, which involves engaging women, is the best way to fight the practice.

Dr Justus Baragaine, a senior gynecologist at Mulago Hospital, explained that several girls are cut brutally with used knives, which results in infections or even death.

Baragaine revealed that there is no medical reason for cutting off the genitals of the girls like the medical male circumcision, which reduces the risk of transmission of HIV.

He said the practice is not only in Sebi, Kapchorwa and Kween, but has also stretched to Kampala city suburbs like in Kisenyi, where the Somali and Nubian communities engage in the practice.
 Dr Susan Obore, also a gynecologist, said most girls present with fistula as a result of FGM.

In Uganda about1/ 4 of the girl population of 1.8 million are mutilated, while globally they are billions.