ASSESSMENT OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NIGERIA CASE STUDY BENIN CITY

ASSESSMENT OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NIGERIA CASE STUDY BENIN CITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined as all procedures which involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia and/or injury to the female genital organs, whether for cultural or any other nontherapeutic reasons (World Health Organization 1998). Worldwide, government and non- governmental organizations frown at FGM having seen it as an infringement on the physical and psychosexual integrity of the female child. Nigeria was said to have the highest absolute number of cases of FGM in the world, accounting for about one-quarter of the estimated 115– 130 million circumcised women worldwide (UNICEF 2001). The prevalence rate of FGM was put at 41% among adult Nigerian women (Okeke 2012). Nigeria is a country in West Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea between Benin and Cameroon. It has an area of 923,768.00 sq kilometers with a population of 140,431,790 according to the 2006 National Population census (National Bureau of Statistics 2006). The male constituted 71,345,488 while the female were 69,086,302 (National Bureau of Statistics 2006). This study was donein a tertiary hospital in Edo State, one of the 36 states of Nigeria. Edo State has a population of 2,398,957with the female being 1,215,487and the male 69,086,302 (National Bureau of Statistics 2006).

ASSESSMENT OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NIGERIA CASE STUDY BENIN CITY