FGM And Fistula: The Double Tragedies of Women’s Reproductive Health

To save a girl’s purity before marriage and curb her sexual desire, people in many African countries have practiced female genital mutilation for ages. Today, even with law banning the practice, many still practice this age-long tradition ignorant of its tragic effects on the woman’s health. Victor Okeke writes on this. “‘Let’s go to the bush and fetch firewood’ — I will remember my mother’s words forever, I was only five years old. Who would have thought that they portend such pain, and this walk will be different from all previous ones. In the forest we were waiting for a woman to undergo the operation. There were two other girls about my age. I remember that everything happened quite quickly.

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