CONSCIENTIZATION: A CRITICAL ELEMENT FOR FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION ABANDONMENT AMONG WOMEN IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Despite its cultural importance, FGM has drawn considerable criticism because of its potential for both short- and long-term medical complications, as well as harm to reproductive health and infringement on women’s rights. FGM, according to WHO, (2023) involves the numbing, burning, piercing, partial or total removal of the female external genitalia provokes medical, emotional, social, legal and economic repercussions at all levels of society; and many survivours of FGM often have to endure the negative effects of the practice to their sexual, reproductive health and overall wellbeing. Over the years, world leaders, international and national organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations have put a lot of effort and resources into ending FGM which is internationally recognised as a violation of human rights, and an extreme form of violence against girls and women.