Mali launch national campaign to fight Female Genital Mutilation

Imprimer

Bamako, Mali, November 14 (Infosplusgabon) - Mali on Tuesday launched a national campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM), on the initiative of the Plan International and Global Media Campaign.

 

 

The campaign is a community outreach program for the elimination of female genital circumcision and is a milestone in a long process of intervention by both organizations in the fight against harmful traditional practices against girls and women as well as female genital mutilation, said the director of Plan International-Mali, Balla Moussa Sidibé.

 

"Every 10 seconds in the world, a girl under the age of 12 undergoes genital mutilation. In Mali, this practice is very common."

 

According to the 5th Demographic and Health Survey, the prevalence rate of excision in Mali is estimated at 91 pc," according to the Malian Minister of Health, Samba Sow.

 

"There are more than 3,040 victims treated, assisted or followed for FGC-related complications, and the risks for girls and women who have been excised are frequent and dramatic," said Sow, who launched a call to mobilize goodwill.

 

"By uniting our efforts, the challenge will be within our grasp. I am convinced that a generation without female genital mutilation in Mali is possible, it is enough that every citizen considers himself a key player and that everyone plays his part for its total abandonment," Sow said, noting, however, a decline in the prevalence rate in recent years in five regions of the country, Kayes (west), Koulikoro (north-east), Sikasso (south), Segou and Mopti (center).

 

According to the WHO, female genital mutilation is a very old practice that is scientifically proven to be harmful to health, but which, unfortunately, still persists in the world and is practiced on girls from birth to 15 years of age.

 

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/PIU/GABON2018

 

 

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