Sociodemographic factors associated with female genital cutting among women of reproductive age in Nigeria

Abstract

Objectives: The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of female genital cutting (FGC) among women of reproductive age in Nigeria and identify the sociodemographic factors associated with the practice.

Methods: A secondary analysis of the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey was carried out in 38,948 women of reproductive age (15–49 years).

Results: The prevalence of FGC among respondents was almost 25%, most of whom (82%) had undergone the procedure when they were under 5 years of age. Traditional circumcisers performed 72.2% of all procedures. Type 2 was the common form (62.6%) of FGC. Almost a quarter of respondents (23.1%) wanted the practice to continue. Women aged 45–49 years were approximately twice as likely to have undergone FGC compared with women aged 15–19 years (odds ratio [OR] 2.41; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.99, 2.92; p < .001). Women from parts of Nigeria other than the North East zone were significantly more likely to have experienced FGC (p < .001). Women of Yoruba ethnicity were significantly more likely to have experienced FGC compared with women of Hausa/Fulani ethnicity (OR 4.86; 95% CI 3.03, 8.12; p < .001).

Conclusions: Our findings have programmatic implications for ending the practice of FGC in Nigeria. Elimination efforts should be intensified among women of Yoruba ethnicity. To instigate behavioural change, communication interventions should particularly target residents in parts of Nigeria other than the North East zone.

Chinese abstract

目的：研究目的是确定尼日利亚生育期女性生殖器切除（female genital cutting, FGC）的发生率, 并确定与实践相关的社会人口学因素。

方法：对2013年在38,948名育龄期（15-49岁）女性中的尼日利亚人口和健康调查进行二次分析。

结果：在调查对象中FGC发生率接近25％, 其中大部分（82％）在5岁以下进行了手术。传统的割礼者操作了72.2％的手术。2型是FGC的常见方式（62.6％）。 近1/4的调查对象（23.1％）希望这一做法继续下去。45-49岁妇女经受过FGC的可能性大约是15-19岁女性的两倍, （OR =2.41; 95％置信区间[CI] 1.99,2.92; p <0.001）。尼日利亚部分地区的女性, 除东北地区以外, 更有显著可能经受过FGC（p <0.001）。约鲁巴裔妇女与豪萨/富拉尼族裔女性相比, 更有显著可能经受过FGC（OR 4.86; 95％CI 3.03,82.12; p <0.001）。

结论：我们的研究结果对于结束尼日利亚的FGC具有一定的影响。在约鲁巴裔女性中应加强消灭FGC的努力。为了煽动行为改变, 沟通干预措施应特别针对尼日利亚除东北地区以外的部分地区居民。

Keywords:

• Female genital cutting
• Nigeria
• Sociodemographic characteristics

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the DHS programme for granting us access to the 2013 NDHS dataset.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.