Egypt continues cruel circumcision practice on girls

By William Atkins
Wednesday, 01 October 2008 18:07

Science - Health

Even though the government of Egypt banned female genital mutilation (FGM) six years ago, it still happens frequently, according to a new study undertaken by American and Egyptian researchers.


Mohamed Bedaiwy, who is associated with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Ohio, U.S.A.) led the study that was written up in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online (volume 16, supplement 1, 2008).

The paper is entitled “Prevalence of female genital cutting in Upper Egypt: 6 years after enforcement of prohibition law.”

Bedaiwy was joined in the study by R. Saleh (Sohag University, Egypt), A.A. Bedaiwy (Helwan University, Egypt), R.S. Peterson (Cleveland Clinic Foundation), and M.A. Bedaiwy (Cleveland Clinic Foundation).

The purpose of their study was to find if female genital cutting (FGC) in Upper Egypt still occurred after a federal prohibition law was put into place six years ago.

FGC, also called female genital mutilation (FGM) and female circumcision, is defined as the various procedures used to partially or totally remove the external female genitalia or to injure the female genital organs. FGM is generally performed for cultural, religious, or other non-medical reasons.

The researchers studied 3,730 Egyptian girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years who were primarily in preparatory school in three rural areas and three urban areas.

Page two continues the reporting of this cruel practice in Egypt.