Toward the abandonment of female genital cutting: advancing research, communication and collaboration.

Local regional and international efforts to end to female genital cutting (FGC) have increased dramatically in recent years. This traditional practice most frequently found in parts of East and West Africa as well as the Nile Valley countries of Egypt and Sudan is variously associated with cultural norms of femininity chastity and religious observance. Efforts to end the practice have met with limited and scattered success and have been constrained by a lack of coordination among the many actors attempting to contribute to the end of this practice. In particular we continue to know very little about the complex social institutions that support this practice the magnitude of the health and psychosexual consequences associated with it or effective means of eliminating it. This gap in practical understanding of factors associated with FGC and effective interventions represents a serious constraint to the promotion of reproductive health in regions of Africa where FGC is widely practiced. It is this information gap that the papers presented in this themed symposium address. (excerpt)