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Lessons learnt in scaling up evidence-based comprehensive health sector responses addressing female genital mutilation in highly prevalent settings

Authors :
Leopold Ouedraogo
Christina Pallitto
Karima Gholbzouri
Wisal Ahmed
Eyob Gebretsadik
Dina Gbenou
Yelmali Hien
Bernadette Dramou
Haimanot Ambelu
Hiba Hussein
Joyce Lavussa
Anabay Mamo
Matilda Cherono
Mary Kessi
Hala El Hennawy
Asmani Chilanga
Hayfa Elamin
Source :
BMJ Global Health, Vol 8, Iss 6 (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
BMJ Publishing Group, 2023.

Abstract

Female genital mutilation (FGM) affects over 200 million girls and women. Its health complications include acute and potentially lifelong urogenital, reproductive, physical, mental health complications with estimated health treatment costs of US$1.4 billion per year. Moreover, there is a concerning rise in the trend of FGM medicalisation with almost one in five FGM cases being performed by a health worker.The WHO developed several evidence-based resources to apply a comprehensive health approach to strengthen FGM prevention and care services. However, there has been limited uptake of this comprehensive approach in FGM prevalent settings. To address this, a three-step multicountry participatory process was used to engage health sector players from FGM prevalent settings to develop comprehensive action plans, implement foundational activities and harness the learnings to inform subsequent planning and implementation. Support to adapt evidence-based resources and seed funding were also provided to initiate foundational activities that had potential for scale up.A total of 15 countries participated in this three-step this approach between 2018 and 2022. Ten countries developed comprehensive national action plans and eight WHO resources were adapted for foundational activities.This scale up approach can be strengthened by increasing the frequency of multicountry experience sharing meetings, identifying in-country champions to continuously advocate for FGM integration within (public and private) health services and securing stable funding to implement foundational activities. Documentation of each country’s experience as case studies including monitoring and evaluation are essential to expand the learning and quality of the health interventions addressing FGM.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20597908
Volume :
8
Issue :
6
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
BMJ Global Health
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.7ce381f065f4c00b625b6cdc73245fc
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012270