Epidemiology

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Browsing Epidemiology by Subject "Female genital cutting,Young adult ,Female students"

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    Assessment of Prevalence and Associated factors with Female Genital Cutting among Young Adult Female Students in Jigjiga District, Somali Region, Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2013-05) G/mariam, Kidanu; Assefa, Demeke(MD, MA)
    Introduction: Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is a harmful traditional practice detrimental to the sexual and reproductive health of girls/women which is a common practice in most developing countries of the world. It is a very common practice in Ethiopia, particularly in Somali region; it is commonly being practiced since generations and it seems to be almost universal in the region. Following this ,the study was aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with female genital cutting. Objective: To assess prevalence and associated factors with FGC in Jigjiga district. Methods: School based cross-sectional mixed method combining both quantitative and qualitative research method was conducted among 679 randomly selected young adult female students from high school and college in Jigjiga district from Feb-mar2012. For the quantitative study, a multistage sampling technique was employed to select study subjects and a pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The qualitative data were collected using FGDs and four FGD discussions were conducted using non directive open ended questions. Epi Info version3.5.3 was used for data entry and SPSS versions17 for data analysis. Open Code was used to analyze the qualitative data. Results: This study revealed that the prevalence of FGC among the respondents and their youngest sister were 82.6% and 81.1% respectively. The dominant form of cutting was Type I, 265(49.3%) in the study area. Majority of girls, 575 (88.3%) and 407(62.7%) had good knowledge towards the bad effect of FGC and had positive attitude towards FGC discontinuation respectively. Religion(AOR=3.7;95%CI:1.1-12), residence (AOR=4;95%CI=2.4-6.8), respondents‟ educational level (AOR=0.5; 95%CI:0.3-0.8), maternal education (AOR=2.4;95%CI:1.3-4.3), attitude (AOR=0.5;95%CI:0.3-0.9)and religious requirement (AOR=1.7 95%CI=1.07-2.8) were the most significant predictors of FGC. The possible reasons for FGC practice were to keep virginity, to improve social acceptance, to have better marriage prospects, religious approval, and to have hygiene. Conclusion and recommendation: Despite girl‟s knowledge and attitude towards the bad effect of FGC, the prevalence of FGC was still high. The direct and indirect effect of FGC on violation human rights of girls/women may seriously affect the effort made towards realization of empowering women and gender equity. There should be a concerted effort among women, men, religious leader and other concerned bodies in understanding and clarification of the wrong attachment between the practice and religion through behavioural change communication and advocacy at all levels.