Postpartum tightening operations on two delivery wards in Sudan

This paper describes a study to explore the prevalence of postpartum tightening operations of the vulva and reinfibulation (RI) in Sudan. Participatory observations with digital vaginal examinations before and after delivery were carried out on a sample of 100 women in two hospital settings. In 61% of the women tightening vulval operations had been carried out after delivery. Of the women who had not been submitted to female genital mutilation (FGM) with suturing before delivery, 35% had such an operation after delivery. Two out of 20 women without any primary FGM had undergone a tightening operation following delivery. In the two study settings observed, the prevalence of postpartum tightening operations was 61% and included women without previous FGM. The tradition of tightening operations of the vulva after delivery is an important issue for further research concerning the implicit sociocultural determinants and their possible relation to the tradition of primary forms of FGM.