Gele Abdi A, Bø Bente P, Sundby Johanne
Department of Social Science, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, Pilestredet 35, Oslo 0167, Norway.
BMC Res Notes. 2013 Mar 27;6:122. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-6-122.
Female circumcision is a major public health problem that largely contributes to the ill-health of women and their children globally. Accordingly, the international community is committed to take all possible measures to abolish the practice that is internationally considered to be absolutely intolerable. While the practice is a social tradition shared by people in 28 African countries, there is no country on earth where FC is more prevalent than in Somalia. Yet, since the early 1990s, there is no quantitative study that has investigated whether the perception towards the practice among Somali men and women in Somalia has improved or not. Thus, this cross-sectional quantitative study examines the attitudes toward the practice among people in Hargeisa, Somalia.
A cross-sectional study of 215 randomly selected persons, including both men and women, was conducted in Hargeisa, Somalia from July to September of 2011. Participants were interviewed using structured questionnaires, with questions including the circumcision status of the female participants, the type of circumcision, if one has the intention to circumcise his/her daughter, whether one supports the continuation or discontinuation of the practice and men's perceptions toward having an uncircumcised woman as a wife.
The findings show that 97% of the study's participants were circumcised with no age differences. Of this, 81% were subjected to Type 3, while 16% were subjected to either Type 1 or 2 and only 3% were left uncircumcised. Approximately 85% of the respondents had intention to circumcise their daughters, with 13% were planning the most radical form. Among men, 96% preferred to marry circumcised women, whereas overall, 90% of respondents supported the continuation of the practice. The vast majority of the study's respondents had a good knowledge of the negative health effects of female circumcision. In multivariate logistic regressions, with an adjustment for all other important variables, female circumcision (the Sunna form) is a religious requirement 16.5 (2.43-112.6) and the Sunna form is not harmful 25.1(2.35-281.1), are the two factors significantly associated with the continuation of female circumcision. Moreover, females were less likely to support the continuation of FC compared to their male counterparts (aOR 0.07; CI: 0.05-0.88).
The study shows that the support towards the persistence of the practice is profoundly high in Somalia. People are aware of the health and human rights effect of female circumcision, and yet they support the continuation of the practice. Therefore, over 30 years of campaigns with limited progress demand an alternative approach towards the eradication of female circumcision in Somalia.
女性割礼是一个重大的公共卫生问题，在全球范围内很大程度上导致了妇女及其子女的健康问题。因此，国际社会致力于采取一切可能措施废除这种在国际上被认为绝对不可容忍的做法。虽然这种做法是28个非洲国家人民共有的社会传统，但世界上没有一个国家的女性割礼比索马里更普遍。然而，自20世纪90年代初以来，还没有定量研究调查过索马里男性和女性对这种做法的看法是否有所改善。因此，这项横断面定量研究调查了索马里哈尔格萨民众对这种做法的态度。
2011年7月至9月，在索马里哈尔格萨对215名随机挑选的人员（包括男性和女性）进行了横断面研究。使用结构化问卷对参与者进行访谈，问题包括女性参与者的割礼状况、割礼类型、是否打算为自己的女儿进行割礼、是否支持继续或停止这种做法以及男性对娶未割礼女性为妻的看法。
研究结果显示，97%的参与者接受过割礼，不存在年龄差异。其中，81%接受的是3型割礼，16%接受的是1型或2型割礼，只有3%未接受割礼。约85%的受访者打算为女儿进行割礼，其中13%计划采用最激进的形式。在男性中，96%更喜欢娶接受过割礼的女性，而总体而言，90%的受访者支持继续这种做法。绝大多数研究受访者对女性割礼的负面健康影响有充分了解。在多变量逻辑回归中，在对所有其他重要变量进行调整后，女性割礼（逊奈形式）是一项宗教要求（比值比为16.5，95%置信区间为2.43 - 112.6）以及逊奈形式无害（比值比为25.1，95%置信区间为2.35 - 281.1），是与女性割礼继续存在显著相关的两个因素。此外，与男性相比，女性不太可能支持女性割礼的继续实施（调整后比值比为0.07；置信区间：0.05 - 0.88）。
该研究表明，索马里对这种做法持续存在的支持程度极高。人们意识到女性割礼对健康和人权的影响，但仍支持继续这种做法。因此，3０多年来进展有限的宣传活动需要一种替代方法来根除索马里的女性割礼。
