Types of Female Genital
Cutting
in Burkina Faso and Mali and Their Relationship With Negative Health
Outcomes
Heidi Jones, Nafissatou Diop, Ian Askew and
Inoussa Kaboré
Heidi Jones, Data Analyst with Population Council’s Impact Studies
Program, Nafissatou Diop, Program Associate with the Population
Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Project, Ian Askew, Project
Director, Population Council’s Africa OR/TA II, and Inoussa Kaboré,
Host Country Social Scientist, Population Council’s Burkina Faso
office.
Abstract
Studies of the types of female genital cutting (FGC) and their associated
gynecological complications were undertaken in clinics in rural
Burkina Faso and in rural and urban clinics in Mali. Women who came
to the clinics for services that included a pelvic exam were interviewed,
and the type of cut and any associated complications were observed
by providers. Ninety-three percent of the women in the Burkina Faso
study clinics and 94 percent of the women in Mali had undergone
FGC. In Burkina Faso, type one (clitoridectomy) was the most prevalent
(52%), while in Mali type two (removal of clitoris and parts of
the labia minora) was the most prevalent (74%). Logistic regression
analyses show dose-response relationships between FGC status and
type or severity of cut, and the probability of a woman having visible
complications and/or difficulties during childbirth.