Female Genital Mutilation among Egyptian School Children

Objective: to assess the prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) among Egyptian school children and associated sociodemographic risk factors.

Methodology: A national community based survey on a 60 school facility level was carried out on 1008 female children aged from 8 to 18 years from 6 governorates representing Egypt. Written consents from child parents and verbal ascent from children aged > 10 years were attained. A face to face interview was carried out to fulfil the designed questionnaire during the period from Mars 2013 to April 2015.

Results: high percent of the studied girls (48.6%) were mutilated. The percent of girls with FGM was significantly higher among girls aged above 15 years (60.5%) compared to those aged 8-12 and 12 to 15 years (22% & 49% respectively) P < 0.001. The highest percent with FGM was found among girls from Assuit and Beni-suef governorates-representing Upper Egypt (70% and 60% respectively) compared to Lower Egypt or Cairo the capital (42.8% & 25.5% respectively), P < 0.001. The FGM was significantly higher among girls from rural areas (63%) compared to 33% in urban areas, P 0.05). FGM was done mainly by doctors (64%) especially in urban areas as it reached to about 75%. About 20% of mutilation was done by “Dayas”.

Conclusion: Although the awareness programs about the health hazards of FGM were carried out, FGM is still a major problem in Egypt especially among girls living in rural areas especially in Upper Egypt and those with lower educated population.