Serious life events and associated PTSD in Gambian girls exposed to female genital cutting.

Introduction: Poor mental health, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been reported after female genital cutting (FGC). However, data documenting adverse consequences of FGC have insufficiently considered confounding factors, such as other traumatising events. Here, we examined the extent to which FGC versus other serious life events disturbed Gambian girls subjected to FGC.

The association between physical complications following female genital cutting and the mental health of 12-year-old Gambian girls: A community-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Female genital cutting (FGC) involve an acute physical trauma that hold a potential risk for immediate and long-term complications and mental health problems. The aim of this study was to examine the prediction of depressive symptoms and psychological distress by the immediate and current physical complications following FGC. Further, to examine whether the age at which 12-year-old Gambian girls had undergone the procedure affected mental health outcomes.

The Impact of the Presidential Alternative Treatment Program on People Living with HIV and the Gambian HIV Response.

In January 2007, former president of The Gambia Yahya Jammeh created the Presidential Alternative Treatment Program (PATP), which introduced a fraudulent "HIV cure." PATP and the fraudulent HIV herbal cure (PATP cure) were widely advertised in state media through patient testimonials and specially produced broadcasts of Jammeh administering treatment, enticing people living with HIV to join the program. Jammeh faced little to no opposition from within The Gambia.