The United Nations Population Fund on Thursday said that the prevalence of female genital mutilation has decreased in Imo, Ebonyi and Oyo States.
The Head of Office, UNFPA Sub-Office, Calabar, Mr Kenneth Ehouzou, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Calabar.
Ehouzou said the considerable progress in the fight against female genital mutilation in women between the ages of 15 and 49 from 2011 to 2017 in the states they were working in showed that the prevalence decreased from 34 to 22 per cent in Imo, 32.9 to 29.6 per cent in Oyo and from 6.4 to 5.2 per cent in Ebonyi.
He said the decrease was due to intensive advocacy, follow-up and constant information in the media by different organisations.
He said the greatest achievement of UNFPA was the passage of Nigeriaโs comprehensive Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act which had been domesticated in 14 states while advocating for its domestication in the remaining states.
โWe have experienced considerable progress in the fight against female genital mutilation, there is a decrease in its prevalence in the states where we are working.
โWe have to be very grateful to our champions like the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, governors, wives of governors and other high-level personalities, who have openly declared their positions against female genital mutilation,โ he said.
According to the UNFPA boss, though, progress was being made in the fight to eliminate female genital mutilation, the major challenge facing the agency was reaching more political actors and creating more awareness on its prevalence.
He also noted that the problem of accessibility was a big challenge as most of the communities that still practice female genital mutilation were in very remote and hard to reach areas nationwide.
โWe know that female genital mutilation is culture related and is passed down from generation to generation, but illiteracy and lack of information is what fuels it because once the women understand that it has no health benefit but complications, their perceptions start to change.
โWhat the UN joint programme did in Nigeria was to train about 120 Nigerian service providers in the management of female genital mutilation complications and these Nigerians have treated about 125, 000 women nationwide.
โThey have also been able to talk to more than 20, 000 pregnant and nursing mothers about avoiding female genital mutilation thereby saving over 1,500 babies who are constantly checked as they are brought by their mothers for vaccines in Osun alone.
โAdditionally, we worked with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure female genital mutilation prevention and post female genital mutilation services is added to the curriculum of nurses and midwives in training.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the joint programme for the elimination of female genital mutilation in Nigeria is in its second phase, the programme started in 2011 in Nigeria and will run till 2030.
The International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is commemorated annually on February 6.
