The Anambra State Government says it will increase sensitisation and advocacy against female circumcision or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to eradicate the practice in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, said this at an ongoing sensitisation programme on FGM, organised for health supervisors, Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and medical students in Awka on Friday.
Obidike said the Gov. Charles Soludo-led administration was passionate about the health and well-being of Anambra women and girls.
He described FGM as the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female organs for non-medical reasons.
The commissioner said “it is sad that female genital mutilation is still in existence in Anambra, practiced among illiterates. This administration is not happy about the practice.
“This is why Gov. Soludo has directed that we do everything to end the ugly trend.
“We want to take the sensitisation beyond the villages and rural communities to the doorstep of residents to encourage them to stop
the practice.”
While urging the participants to become ambassadors in the fight against FGM, the commissioner also urged them to take the programme seriously and
utilise the knowledge to educate people in their communities.
In her lecture, Mrs Uche Udeze, a former Director of Nursing Service, listed the adverse effects of FGM to include pain, bleeding, acute urine, infections, among others.
Udeze called for collaboration among stakeholders to halt the practice in Anambra.
In her remarks, Dr Uju Okoye, the Coordinator, Reproductive Health, lamented that the practice of FGM was still rampant in Anambra East, Anambra West and Ekwusigo local government areas of the state.
She said the programme would help the state government to develop a work plan that would aid the elimination of FGM. (NAN)
