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Global Review of Evidence on FGM

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Book cover Female Genital Mutilation around The World:

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Abstract

The global evidence that has led to the imposition of the ban on FGM has been subject to many studies. All of these studies have largely been descriptive and over-interpretative. Besides, there are conflicting reports of worldwide decrease in the prevalence of FGM (World Health Organization 2008; World Health Organization 2010; Berg and Denison 2012; Gupta 2013; Yoder et al. 2013; Shell-Duncan et al. 2016; UNICEF 2016). In some countries, this prevalence was reported to have dropped by more than 50% (Gupta 2013). The main problem with such studies is that they excessively rely on cross-sectional data evaluating the prevalence of FGM at a particular time point, which hides variations at the regional and sub-national level in respect of the issue of increase or decline in prevalence of FGM. The conflicting evidence in terms of such decrease or increase in prevalence portends grave danger to the realization of zero-tolerance being the articulated resolution of the 2012 UN General Assembly (United Nations 2012). To overcome this problem we need robust analytical evidence on the actual burden of FGM/C using more advanced statistical techniques in terms of spatial analysis of the phenomenon and pointing out hot spots of the phenomenon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics Physics and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK

    Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala

  2. Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK

    Paul Nzinga Komba

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  1. Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala
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Kandala, NB., Komba, P.N. (2018). Global Review of Evidence on FGM. In: Female Genital Mutilation around The World: . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78007-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78007-8_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78005-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78007-8

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