COVID-19 and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and child marriage: An online multi-country cross sectional survey.

Autor: Pande S; Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom., Shamu S; Health Systems Strengthening, Foundation for Professional Development, Pretoria, South Africa.; School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa., Abdelhamed A; Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Andrology, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt., Munyao Kingoo J; Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Life and Biological Sciences, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya., Van de Velde S; Centre for Population, Family, and Health, Department of Sociology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium., Temmerman M; Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya., Esho T; Amref International University, Nairobi, Kenya., Kimani S; University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya., Omwoha J; Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya., Kpokiri EE; Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom., Tucker JD; Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.; School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Oct 31; Vol. 19 (10), pp. e0304671. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 31 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304671
Abstrakt: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and child marriage are prevalent in many countries in Asia and Africa. These practices are a violation of human rights and have significant impacts on the physical and mental well-being of those affected. COVID-19 restrictions such as lockdowns and closure of schools may have influenced the occurrence of FGM/C and child marriage. This analysis reported on the impact of these restrictions on FGM/C and child marriage. The International Sexual Health And REproductive Health (I-SHARE) research team organised a multi-country online survey. Sampling methods included convenience samples, online panels, and population-representative samples. Data collected included the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the occurrence, intention to practice and change in plans to organise FGM/C and child marriage. Data were analysed from 14 countries that reported on FGM/C and child marriage using basic descriptive statistics. Given it was an online survey, we had more responses from urban areas. Among the 22,724 overall participants, 8,829 participants (38.9%) responded to the survey items on FGM/C and child marriage and were included in this analysis. 249 (3.4%) participants stated that FGM/C occurred in their community during COVID-19. Out of this, COVID-19 affected the plans of 26 (20%) participants intending to organise circumcision and 15% of participants planned to organise FGM/C earlier. People with a worry about finances during COVID-19 were more likely to have an earlier plan to organise FGM/C during COVID-19. In total, 1,429 (13%) participants reported that child marriage occurred in their community. The pandemic affected plans of 52 (13%) participants intending to arrange child marriage and 7.7% (29/384) participants expressed intent to arrange the marriage sooner than planned. People with financial insecurities during COVID-19 were more likely to arrange a child marriage earlier. Thus, our study found that the pandemic impacted plans related to FGM/C and child marriage practices, resulting in many carrying out the practices sooner or later than initially planned.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Pande et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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