Female genital mutilation/cutting: A conceptual discussion

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a dangerous practice that predates all religions and perpetrated on children for various reasons in various cultural and global contexts, causing adverse lifelong health consequences including sexual, physical and psychological problems for the survivors. Even so, there appears to be no documented work that brings together the major conceptual blocks on FGM/C, a gap this paper seeks to begin to fill. This paper summarises some major concepts on FGM/C as a resource and evaluates key evidence on the practice. While the practice of FGM/C is highly concentrated in Africa, the practice is spread out globally with a shift towards its medicalization among migrant communities and traditional settings. A focus of this paper is to propagate awareness and polarise debates to bring to an end to the practice of FGM/C globally

Experiences of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Professionals Working with Migrant Women Living with Female Genital Cutting in Western Australia

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is a global public health problem. The practice is particularly prevalent amongst people of African, Middle East and South East Asian descent. FGM/C creates a permanent change to the body of women. When such women migrate to other countries, they bring the associated social and health problems of FGM/C with them. As a multicultural society, Australia has many residents who come from settings in which FGM/C is prevalent. This qualitative study investigated whether healthcare professionals in Western Australia are prepared and able to provide adequate healthcare to women living with FGM/C. We found that there is a paucity of literature in Australia generally, and Western Australia more specifically, about FGM/C and the associated experiences of healthcare providers. Healthcare professionals were found to experience challenges when working with women living with FGM/C, mainly because of poor cultural sensitivity and poor levels of communication, and lacked appropriate education and training for working with women living with FGM/C. This study identified a need for empirical studies on how women living with FGM/C experience sexual and reproductive health services in Western Australia

Sources of sexual knowledge and information and sexual attitudes of men in Kenya

The multi-dimensionality of sexual attitudes as influenced by sources of sexual knowledge and information has implications for men’s sexuality and public health. The sources of sexual knowledge and information and relationship with sexual attitudes and behaviours among adult heterosexual men in sub-Saharan Africa remain relatively understudied. This is despite their impact on sexual health and well-being and interest in public health due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the continent. In most of sub-Sharan Africa, school-based sexuality education appears to be the only formal source of sexual knowledge and information. An exploratory sequential mixed method study including six in-depth interviews and 501 surveys was applied to understand how sources of sexual knowledge relate to sexual attitudes and sexual behaviours across the demographic characteristics of heterosexual men, 18-54 years old in Nairobi, Kenya. The intention was to uncover key knowledge to inform policies and practice on sexual health and future sex research. An Interpretive Phenomenological Approach (IPA) was utilised for both data collection, analysis and interpretation in the qualitative phase. All men obtained some information from school, but mainly peers and mass media/internet continue to play key role for sexual knowledge and information across all demographics. Sexual permissiveness was high in the qualitative sample with multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships perceived to represent expressions of manhood. An Interpretive Phenomenological Approach (IPA) was utilised for both data collection, analysis and interpretation in the qualitative phase. All men obtained some information from school, but mainly peers and mass media/internet continue to play key role for sexual knowledge and information across all demographics. Sexual permissiveness was high in the qualitative sample with multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships perceived to represent expressions of manhood. In the quantitative phase, linear regression analyses present demographic associations with permissiveness, birth control and instrumentality (P \u3c 0.05) to reject Hypothesis (H)1. There were significant differences in access to sexual knowledge across demographics rejecting H1. There was significant relationship between sources of sexual knowledge and sexual attitudes, rejecting H3. We found that men who accessed sexual knowledge information from peers, mass media including internet pornography had more liberal/ permissive attitudes towards sex as compared to those who obtained information from parents and religious institutions. The mixed methods result provides a novel opportunity to apprise practice, policies and sex research on men’s sexuality in relation to sexual knowledge, information, attitudes and behaviours among adult men in Africa with particular reference to Kenya. Methodological analysis implies that utilizing mixed methods can influence robust outcomes in sex research across sub-Saharan Africa, giving voice to the numbers gathered in quantitative surveys through interviews. Further research with heterosexual adult men should assess how sexual attitudes are changing due to increased access to mass media/internet and easy access to increased sexual knowledge and information and how these influences sexual behaviour. This study outcome is important for informing sexual and reproductive health research not only in Kenya but sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, with potential to determine public health and sexual health policies. It also has implications for sex research, sexological practice and sexual and reproductive health services and education with men in the continent