EFFECT OF VITAMINS C AND E INTAKE ON BLOOD ... - EuroJournals

International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Volume 2, Number I (2006)
practice with several negative effects on the woman’s reproductive system. In the opinion of the
World Medical Association, FGM is detrimental to the physical and mental health of girls and women
and it is a form of oppression of women (WMA, 1993). The World Health Organization has
consistently opposed the medicalization of the practice on the ground that it lacks any medical benefit
(Dorkenoo, 1996).
Female genital mutilation is practiced in many parts of the world but mainly in 28 African
countries and some parts of Asia and the Middle East (WHO, 1995). Toubia (1995) reported that 130
million of the world’s female population had undergone genital mutilation and two million are at risk
every year. The operation is forced on approximately 6000 girls per day, about one every 15 seconds.
It is estimated that about 75 percent of the global cases of FGM come from Africa.
In Nigeria, very few statistical studies are available which provide accurate estimates of the
frequency with which FGM is performed. One of the widely-cited estimates is the 1997 World Health
Organization study which reported that an estimated 30.625 million women and girls, or about 60 per
cent of the total female population of Nigeria, have undergone genital mutilation while many more are
still being subjected to it every year (WHO, 1997). Also, a 1996 United Nations Development
Systems study reported a similar number of 32.7 million Nigerian women affected by FGM (US
Department of State, 2001). It is not unlikely that the incidence of FGM in Nigeria would be much
higher than had been reported in these studies since practitioners and victims do not voluntarily report
such cases to the government. Also, cases of FGM may have been grossly under-reported as the
practice occurs mostly in villages where government health officials do not have easy access to
monitor its spread.
FGM is practiced in Nigeria in different degrees across ethnic groups, though research data on
the prevalence of the practice among ethnic groups have not been consistent. For instance, while the
National Baseline survey reported that more than 90 percent of Yoruba women had undergone genital
mutilation; Modupe & Lola (1985) and Ogunlola, Orji & Owolabi (2003) reported 71.3 and 60 percent
prevalent rates respectively. However, findings on types of FGM practiced in the country indicated
that Types I and II are the most predominant forms (Mandara, 2004; Mukoro, 2004).
The procedure followed in carrying out FGM in Nigeria and the age at which it is done vary
according to ethnic groups. In some ethnic groups, FGM is performed on girls from a few days after
birth to eight years while in others, it is performed as a rite of womanhood for adolescent girls
preparing for marriage. In some few groups, FGM is performed on pregnant women shortly before
they give birth, based on the traditional belief that the baby will die during delivery if its head touches
the mother’s intact clitoris. In few extreme cases, the procedure is performed on a deceased woman
before burial if it is discovered that the woman did not have the operation before her death (US
Department of State, 2001).
Generally, FGM is performed at home by medically untrained persons under unhygienic
conditions and without the use of anesthesia. The common picture is that of a struggling and
screaming girl held down forcefully by adults while the traditional surgeon with crude and nonsterilized
instruments in a poorly-lit room attempts to cut away any part of the external genitalia that he
or she is able to get hold of (Hosken, 1989). Quite often, under the conditions in which the operation is
performed, what the traditional surgeon intends to be a minor cutting may end up being a most severe
form of mutilation.
Various reasons have been adduced to justify the practice of FGM. The most common is the
need to maintain local custom and tradition. In many communities, it is believed that FGM is a custom
decreed by the ancestors and that its elimination or discontinuation is tantamount to the demise of the
cultural heritage of the people, and an invitation to incurring the wrath of the ancestors.
Many of the traditional beliefs of the people regarding the practice of FGM are incompatible
with biological facts. For instance, it is believed that FGM ensures cleanliness, enhances femininity,
and promotes sexual faithfulness of married women. There is also a strong traditional belief that the
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