In Kenya, the prevalence of Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is slowly decreasing. Simultaneously, the practice is increasingly being performed by healthcare providers rather than traditional circumcisers, which may pose the risk of legitimising the practice. To date, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In this study we shed light on ongoing trends in contraceptive use in Flanders (Belgium). Building on the fundamental cause theory and social diffusion of innovation theory, we examine socio-economic gradients in contraceptive use and the relationship to health behaviours.
Methods: Using the unique and recently collected (2020) ISALA data, we used multinomial logistic regression to model the uptake of contraceptives and its association to educational level and health behaviour (N:4316 women).
While within the Kisii community in Kenya the prevalence of female genital cutting (FGC) is decreasing, the practice is increasingly being performed by health professionals. This study aims to analyse these changes by identifying mothers' motives to opt for medicalised FGC, and how this choice possibly relates to other changes in the practice. We conducted face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with mothers who had daughters around the age of cutting (8-14 years old) in Kisii county, Kenya.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFemale Genital Cutting (FGC) is increasingly being performed by trained health professionals. International, national, and local institutions strongly oppose this medicalization trend, arguing that the involvement of health-care providers in the performance of FGC will counteract efforts to eliminate the practice. However, no empirical research to date has confirmed or refuted this claim.
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