Doctor warn against female genital mutilation

A former Director of Public Health, Enugu Ministry of Health, Dr Ebenezary Festus, has urged parents to desist from female genital mutilation as it could lead to infertility.

Ebenezary in Enugu on Thursday that "female genital mutilation is the removal of genital tissue which involves removing necessary glands leading the vaginal environment to become unfavourable to sperm."

He said that female children who undergo such practice were at risk of infertility.

According to him, genital mutilation often results to painful intercourse, inability to have intercourse, infections and frigidity.

The doctor who said that the lips that surround the vagina could be narrowed, added that the narrowing of the vagina often makes it difficult for the penis to penetrate into it for the release of sperm for conception.

He further explained that female genital mutilation also included the partial or total removal of the clitoris and possibly the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris, removal of the labia minor and the labia major, among others.

Ebenezary said that appropriate institutional frameworks for advocacy and plans against the practice should be established in rural areas where this practice was most prevalent.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised female genital mutilation as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

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