A Non-Governmental Organisation, Action Health Incorporated with the support of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and in collaboration with Osun State government have sensitized OSUN Community on the need to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the state.
The NGO in an interactive session held
with leaders and stakeholders from five communities (Olorunsogo, Ibiyemi, Tanimola, Ayeloja, and Railway Communities) in Ede North Local Government Area of the state, enlightened the community members on the dangers of mutilating a girl child and engaging them to identify strategies in promoting FGM abandonment in their communities.
In a statement made available to our reporter on Saturday by the representative of the organisation, Fatimah Idris, the NGO stated that, the programme which started on Wednesday, ended on Saturday.
“Four LGAs where FGM exists have been selected for this project, and they are: Ede North, Egbedore, Orolu and Osogbo. From each of these LGAs, five communities were further selected for the abandonment of this harmful practice”.
According to her, “The programme is to educate the traditional rulers, community leaders, religious leaders, and other key stakeholders on the adverse effects of female genital mutilation, and garner their support in identifying strategies to promote FGM abandonment in these selected communities”.
“We are having our first dialogue meeting with the five selected communities in Ede North today, and will proceed to organize for Egbedore, Orolu, and Osogbo local governments on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday respectively. What we do is to enlighten the community on the danger of female genital mutilation and the need for them to eradicate the practice. They also bring their contributions on the issue.”
The statement further said that, the organization’s campaign on FGM has received positive responses with a massive reduction of FGM cases in the state.
“Our campaigns have been yielding positive results. We have been receiving success stories from past participants of the program on how they have been able to protect and rescue female babies in their communities from FGM that would have been performed on them by their parents. Our trained surveillance team and Anti-FGM Champions have also been actively change the minds of parents from the harmful practice through their door-to-door sensitization.
“Also records have shown that the issue of female genital mutilation has decreased in Osun State. So, there has been a great impact,” the statement added.
and then