[Svrilist] FGM and Childbirth Complications

[Liz Dartnall]

Female Genital Cutting Leads to Childbirth Complications, Increased 
Maternal Mortality, Study Says 
<http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=37652>

<>      "Women who have undergone extreme forms of genital cutting -- a 
practice sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital 
mutilation in which there is a partial or full removal of the labia, 
clitoris or both -- and their infants are more likely to die during or 
soon after pregnancy than women who have not undergone the procedure, 
according to a World Health Organization <http://www.who.int/en/> study 
published in the June 2 issue of the journal Lancet 
<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606688053/abstract>, 
the New York Times 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/02/world/africa/02mutilation.html> 
reports (Rosenthal, New York Times, 6/2). For the study, researchers, 
members of the WHO Study Group on Female Genital Mutilation and 
Obstetrical Outcome, from 2001 to 2003 examined 28,393 pregnant women in 
obstetric centers in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and 
Sudan (Lancet, 6/2). The study finds an association between the 
extensiveness of genital cutting and maternal and infant death rates 
during childbirth. The more extensive procedures cause an increase of 
more than 50% in death rates, while less extensive forms of genital 
cutting cause about a 20% increase, according to researchers. Women who 
have undergone the procedure also experience greater blood loss during 
childbirth, had longer hospital stays and were more likely to need a 
Caesarean section, the study finds (New York Times, 6/2). WHO said that 
about 20 of every 1,000 infants in Africa die as a result of female 
genital mutilation and about 100 million women worldwide have undergone 
some form of genital cutting, Reuters UK 
<http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-06-02T000205Z_01_L01764691_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-CIRCUMCISION-DC.XML&archived=False> 
reports. While the procedure is most prevalent in African countries, it 
also takes place in areas of Asia, the Middle East and among immigrant 
communities in North America and Europe (MacInnis, Reuters UK, 6/1)."

For more information visit:  
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606688053/abstract

(Source:  Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report. The Kaiser Daily 
Women's Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org 
<http://www.kaisernetwork.org>, a website of the Kaiser Family 
Foundation. (c) 2006 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family 
Foundation. All rights reserved.)
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