Advancing Knowledge of Psycho-Sexual Effects of FGM/C: Assessing the Evidence

Mohamed

A. Abdel Baky is a fourth year medical student in Alexandria

University’s Faculty of Medicine. He is also a board member of ASSA,

Alexandria Students’ Scientific Association and local officer of

Reproductive Health/AIDS (LORA) in the International Federation

of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA). His field of work includes

conference and workshop organizing (social & scientific), fundraising,

project coordinating, as well as peer education. Mr. Abdel Baky

has previously worked with UNICEF, Caritas-Egypt , ISCGT- International

Society of Cancer and Gene Therapy , ATA -Alexandria Thoracic Association

, and the Egyptian Society of Bronchology.

Nafisa

Mohamed A. Bedri, is assistant

professor at the School of Family Sciences, Ahfad University for

Women, executive board member of Babiker Badri Scientific Association

for Women Studies and the President of the Sudanese Population Network.

Besides being a lecturer, Dr. Bedri is also a researcher, program

manager and trainer in the field of reproductive health in general

and women’s health issues in particular. Dr. Bedri has written and

developed several training and educational materials in these fields.

She has also carried out several researchers at national and international

levels in the area of women’s health.

Mona

Bur, is an African graduate fellow

at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the American

University in Cairo. She

is also the coordinator of the INTACT Network at Population Council,

West Asia and North Africa Regional Office in Cairo. Her research

interests include issues of FGC, gender and sexuality in literature

and development.

Lucrezia Catania, heads the research division of the

Center for Preventing and Curing FGM and its Complications at the

Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the University of Florence.

A graduate of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Florence,

Dr. Catania specialized in gynaecology and obstetrics at the University

of Florence, and clinical sexology at the University of Pisa and

Florence, 2003. She is also the author and speaker of numerous researches

on FGM/C, such as I National Congress of the Italian Federation

of Scientific Sexology (2002), V National Congress of the Italian

Society of Health Psychology (2002), XVI World Congress of Sexology

(2003), XVII European Conference of Health Psychology (2003), III

International Meeting of the International Society for the Study

of Women and Sexual Health (2003).

Maissa

El-Mofty, was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt in a family

where most of its members were members of the medical profession

and university professors. She joined the medical school of Cairo

University and left after her first year with her husband who was

on a Fullbright Scholarship to New York for four years where she

studied Psychology. Returning to Cairo she worked for the Ministry

of Health providing 300 schools in Western Cairo with psychological

assessment and therapy. She joined Ain Shams University in 1975

and for the past five years headed both the department of Psychology

at the Faculty of Arts and the Department of Humanities at the Faculty

of Environmental Research. She is presently involved in survey studies

dealing with the onset of menstruation in girls and issues regarding

FGM/C.

Abdelhadi Eltahir is a holder of Medical Degree from

the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, and a Masters of

Public Health from Columbia University in New York. Currently Dr.

Eltahir is a Senior Technical Advisor at the Bureau for Global Health,

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington,

DC. He is a member of MCH team and Reproductive Health Core Group

for Africa Bureau. Dr. Eltahir spearheaded the USAID Initiatives

on Prevention of Post-Partum Hemorrhage and FGC abandonment worldwide.

Prior to this position he worked in Saudi Arabia as Head, Department

of Public Health at the Health Science College in Dammam. As Assistant

Clinical Professor at the School of Public Health, Columbia University,

he provided assistance for implementation of Prevention of Maternal

Mortality projects in West Africa. He worked in Sudan for many years

as a practicing medical doctor where he performed medical, obstetric

and surgical procedures as needed.

Recently Dr. Eltahir received the USAID Population, Health and Nutrition

Superior Service to the Field Award from Africa Bureau and Bureau

for Global Health. Also, he received a number of awards from Columbia

University, Royal Commission in Saudi Arabia, and Sudan Pediatric

Specialists Society.

Birgitta

Essén, MD, PhD, is a gynecologist in Sweden. She

is running a clinic for immigrant women and reproductive health

at the University Hospital of Malm?. She defended her thesis “Perinatal

mortality among women from Africa´s Horn in Sweden”,

2001. Her research area is SRHR (FGC, gender violence, honor violence,

maternal mortality, culture-sensitive family planning etc), working

in a multidisciplinary (obstetrician, epidemiologist, public health

and social anthropologist) group at Lund University, running projects

both in high- as well as lo- income countries.

Amel

Fahmy, is Technical Officer at the Department of Reproductive

Health and Research (RHR) of the World Health Organization, and

is responsible for co-coordinating work on FGC. She holds a MA in

Women’s Issues and International Relations, and PHC in Public Health.

Ms. Fahmy has been involved with women’s related issues focusing

on sexual health and FGC for 10 years, and has previously worked

with WHO, UNHCR, UNFPA, Population Council. She has also consulted

for CIDA and CEDPA, and previously participated in the design and

implementation of several research studies on FGC.

Vivian Fouad,

Ellen

Gruenbaum, Ph.D., is Professor of Anthropology at California

State University, Fresno. In the 1970s, she lived in Sudan for five

years, teaching at the University of Khartoum and doing research

in medical and cultural anthropology. This was followed by additional

research in 1989, 1992 and 2004. In 2004, she was affiliated with

the Institute for Women, Gender and Development Studies at Ahfad

University in Omdurman and later served as a research consultant

for UNICEF and CARE on their FGM/C projects in eastern and western

Sudan. She authored “The Female Circumcision Controversy: An

Anthropological Perspective” (University of Pennsylvania Press,

2001).

Ezzeldin

Osman Hassan, M.B., B.C.H., D.G.O., D.S., M.D. Professor,

Obst. & Gyn. Dept., Mansoura Faculty of Medicine, Egypt. Secretary

General, The Egyptian Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. Executive

Director, The Egyptian Fertility Care Foundation, has published

extensively in the field of gynaecology, obstetrics, family planning

and reproductive health, and has conducted biomedical, socio-medical

and socio-demographic research in the above fields. Dr. Ezzeldin

has also conducted training programs in research methodologies and

in different areas of reproductive health. Special research interests

include contraceptive technologies, reproductive health issues especially

postabortion care, FGC, maternal morbidity and infertility.

Julia

R. Heiman, Ph.D. was named Director of The Kinsey Institute

for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University,

in June, 2004. She is appointed as Professor of Psychology at Indiana

University and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at IU Medical School.

She comes to The Kinsey Institute and IU from the School of Medicine

at the University of Washington, where she was Professor of Psychiatry

and Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Reproductive and Sexual

Medicine Clinic and Associate Director for Psychotherapy Programs

at the Outpatient Psychiatry Center. She is a researcher, clinician

and an international authority in the field of human sexuality.

Dr. Heiman serves on the Editorial Boards of Archives of Sexual

Behavior, Psychology and Human Sexuality, Menopause and Editor-in-Chief

of the Annual Review of Sex Research (2000-2004). She has edited

a special issue of the Journal of Sex Research (August, 2000) focused

on Medical Advances in Human Sexuality. In 2001, she was honored

with the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the Society

of the Scientific Study of Sex, and was named Distinguished Psychologist

by the Washington State Psychological Association. She has served

on the National Institutes of Mental Health IRG as a study section

member of the Life Course and Prevention committee, and has served

on the Violence and Criminal Behavior committee and the Violence

and Traumatic Stress committee. From 1997-1999, she was a national

reviewer on the Social Science Research Council’s Human Sexuality

Research Fellowship Program. She has been a panelist on the National

Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on interventions

to prevent HIV risk behavior (1997) and co-chaired the Second Cape

Cod Conference on Sexual Function and Assessment in Clinical Trials:

Female Sexual Dysfunction (1998). She is currently an NIH special

reviewer as well as a consultant to several pharmacology firms.

She has been elected as; President of the International Academy

of Sex Research, National Board Member of the Society for the Scientific

Study of Sex, and President of the American Board of Family Psychology.

Dr. Heiman received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the State

University of New York at Stony Brook. She then was funded by an

NIMH Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for work in the Department

of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at SUNY Stony Brook. She was

a Research Scientist with the Long Island Research Institute and

a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral

Sciences at SUNY Stony Brook before going to the University of Washington

for 23 years. Dr. Heiman has published broadly in the area of sex

research on male and female sexual function and dysfunction, psychophysiological

components of female and male sexual arousal patterns, outcome research

of sexual dysfunction, and correlates of histories of childhood

sexual and physical abuse.

Adriane

Martin Hilber, is a Technical Officer in the Department

of Reproductive Health and Research in the Unit on Gender and Reproductive

Rights. Since 2002, she has been the coordinator of the new departmental

area of work on Sexual Health. The work on sexual health focuses

on building the evidence base for sexual health programming and

research on gender, sexuality and vaginal practices. In addition

to working on sexuality and sexual health, she also works on Human

Rights, policies and maternal and newborn health. Ms. Hilber has

a degree in development economics and politics and a degree in public

health. She is currently pursuing a PhD in public health focusing

on health policy.

Abdulcadir Omar Hussen, M.D., was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. Dr.

Hussen is currently head of the Research Center for Preventing and

Curing FGM and its Complications at the Department of Gynaecology

and Obstetrics of Florence. Graduate of Medicine and Surgery, Dr.

Hussen has specialized in Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the University

of Florence. He is also in charge of Social Health Coordination

for immigrants in Tuscany. In addition, Dr. Hussen is coordinator

and organizer of the first international congress “Contribution

to a Socio-Medical Integration of Extra-Communitarian Immigrants”

and organizer/coordinator of four conferences on contraception for

immigrant communities of African, Arab, Eastern European and Asian

backgrounds (held in Milan, Florence, Turin and Trieste).

Barbara

Lethem Ibrahim, Ph.D. is regional director for West Asia

and North Africa at the Population Council, a position she has held

since 1991. She previously served as the Middle East program officer

for urban poverty and women’s studies programs for the Ford Foundation,

Cairo. Ibrahim received an M.A. from the American University of

Beirut and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. She was principal investigator

on a major national survey of adolescents and their parents conducted

in Egypt in 1997, as well as on a current impact study of Ishraq,

a sports and empowerment program for rural girls. Ibrahim advises

groups in Jordan, Pakistan, and Iran on national youth research,

and is a member of a regional working group that conducts research

on issues related to the Arab family. She is developing new programs

to enhance local philanthropy and forge stronger links between research,

activist, and policy communities. Ibrahim received the Lifetime

Achievement Award from the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies

in 2003, and was inducted into the Educators Hall of Fame (USA)

in 1999. She serves on numerous international boards.

R. Elise B. Johansen, is a PhD student of medical anthropology,

University of Oslo. She has conducted research in Norway focusing

on the perceptions of women and men affected by FGC now living in

Norway on the practice and their experience; birth-care for infibulated

women. Previously published articles on FGC include themes of pain,

sexuality and birth care/birth experiences. She is presently leader

of the OK Project, a national project in Norway working with information

and communication related to FGC, with affected communities and

public services. Johansen is a former researcher on non-cutting

female initiation rituals (Tanzania), and reproductive health rituals,

sexuality and humor among Norwegian youth. She is presently planning

a post-doctoral study titled “Is All Genital Mutilation Mutilating?”

on comparing different genital practices in relation to health,

ethical and political definitions compared to local meanings.

Sarah Johnsdotter, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Department of

Social Anthropology, Lund University, Sweden. She has been conducting

research in cooperation with Dr. Birgitta Essen for eight years,

on issues of FGC and legal aspects, cultural exchange due to migration

and sexual ideologies. Her doctoral thesis, “Created by God:

How Somalis in Swedish Exile Reassess the Practice of Female Circumcision”

was completed in 2002.

Hermione

Lovel, is Senior Lecturer (WHO Collaborating Center for

Primary Care), University of Manchester, UK. She has set up and

run nationally recognized research training (MRes Health and Community).

Previously she worked for 15 years at the Center for International

Child Health, University College, London, latterly as Director MSc

and Child Health. Her FGM research started in 1996 with a WHO commissioned

systematic literature search and review of health complications

from which she developed 4 research protocols to investigate childbirth,

psychosexual, psychological comorbidity sequelae in sociocultural/socioeconomic

aspects. The childbirth study is ongoing in a 6-community completing

soon. She is also working with the Somali community in Manchester.

Zeinab Mohamed, BSc in Nursing,

is a Somali registered nurse and midwife, PhD currently in progress

at the University of Salford, U.K. She is currently working as a

Research Associate in a research project at the University of Manchester.

She has also previously worked as a Research Associate on different

projects looking into the heads of migrant communities in the UK

and access and inclusion initiatives. She is also on the Board of

different organizations both voluntary and governmental bodies working

with minority ethnic communities in the UK investigating how to

improve the quality of life for the communities.

Nawal

Nour, MD is actively researching the health and policy

issues regarding female genital cutting (FGC) locally and internationally.

She has spoken in numerous academic and national conferences regarding

the medical management of women who have undergone this practice.

Committed to the eradication of FGC, she travels throughout the

country conducting workshops to educate African refugees and immigrants

on the medical complications and legal issues of this practice.

She was recently on an FGC task force for the American College of

Obstetrics and Gynecology. She served as the primary author for

Female Genital Cutting, Clinical Management of Circumcised Women,

published by ACOG. This slide-lecture kit aims to educate obstetricians-gynecologists

on the medical management of circumcised women in the United States

and Canada. Dr. Nour is a board certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist

and is the Director of the Obstetric Resident Practice at the Harvard-affiliated

Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. She is an assistant

professor at Harvard Medical School. She has also established an

African Women’s Health Practice that provides appropriate health

and outreach programs to the African community in Boston. Dr. Nour

was honored as a 2003 MacArthur Foundation Fellow for creating the

country’s only center of its kind that focuses on both physical

and emotional needs of female circumcision victims. This work has

been covered by the Associated Press, New York Times, Washington

Post, NPR, O and Essence magazine and CNN Espaniol.

Born in the Sudan and raised in Egypt and England, Dr. Nour came

to the United States to attend Brown University. She received her

medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1994 and completed

a chief residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Brigham and

Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA in 1998. She received the Commonwealth

Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Health Policy where she obtained

her MPH at Harvard School of Public Health in 1999. She was subsequently

awarded the H. Richard Nesson Fellowship from the Brigham and Women’s

Hospital for her community work and outreach.

Friday Okonofua is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and

Gynaecology and Provost, College of Medical Sciences, at the University

of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. His present appointments include

the post of Secretary-General of the Society of Gynaecology and

Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON), and Director of the Women’s Health

and Action Research Center. Prof Okonofua is also the Editor of

the African Journal of Reproductive Health, Journal of Medicine

and Biomedical Research, and Women’s Health Forum. He is the Associate

Editor of the Nigerian Medical Journal as well as a member of the

international advisory group of the British Journal of Obstetrics

and Gynaecology. He is a reviewer of reproductive health articles

to several journals including the British Journal of Obstetrics

and Gynaecology, Studies in Family Planning, African Journal of

Medicine and Medical Sciences, Nigerian Medical Journal and West

African Journal of Medicine. Other appointments include Adjunct

Visiting Scientist in Reproductive Health, Harvard School of Public

Health, Boston, USA, and Adjunct and PHD Candidate, Department of

Public Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Prof. Okonofua

has also published extensively on women’s health issues.

Riham

Sheble graduated from The American University in Cairo

in 2000 with a double BA, Arabic and Islamic and Studies, English

and Comparative Literature and a minor in Gender Studies. Currently

working as a teaching assistant of Arabic Literature at AUC, finishing

MA in Arabic Literature (research topic: feminism and Sufism in

modern Arabic literature written by women in Egypt), working as

editor of school books and an independent researcher and activist

in the field of women’s rights, especially violence against women,

namely FGM and the phenomenon of battered wives. Ms. Sheble has

published articles in a number of encyclopedias and journals, such

as the Encyclopedia of African Studies, and Tiba (a feminist journal

published by New Woman Research Centre). She has also prticipated

in merous panels discussion, conferences, TV interviews concerning

the topics of FGM/C, e image of women in the media with focus on

the image of veiled women in the media.

C.

Johannes Van Dam is the director of the Robert H. Ebert

Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health. Prior to this

position, he was the deputy director and senior program associate

for the Population Council’s International Programs Division. He

coordinates operations research on sexually transmitted infections

and HIV/AIDS and serves as liaison to a number of international

organizations. Prior to joining the Population Council, van Dam

worked for UNAIDS providing technical assistance to national AIDS

committees to help develop, implement, and evaluate program activities.

Van Dam also served as a medical officer with the World Health Organization’s

Global Programme on AIDS and as a public health expert for the Commission

of European Communities’ AIDS Task Force. Van Dam has given presentations

at conferences and workshops around the world. He received his M.D.

degree from the University of Amsterdam, a diploma in Tropical Medicine

and Hygiene from the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, and

an M.S. in Community Health in Developing Countries from the London

School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.