title: Female genital cutting starts to decline among women in Oromia, Ethiopia.
abstract: The study explored factors influencing attitudes towards the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) among women in Oromia region, Ethiopia. Representative data from 2221 women aged 15-49 years from the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey in 2005 were evaluated. Overall, 88.4% of women had undergone FGC. Prevalence significantly decreased with birth date, ranging from 95.1% in women aged 45-49 years to 75.8% in those aged 15-19 years. Overall, 63.7% of women favoured the discontinuation of FGC, while 29.7% favoured its continuation. Education was strongly correlated with a stance against the practice: while only 54.6% of illiterate women were against it, this figure was 95.5% among women who had completed secondary school. While the reported prevalence was similar among Christian (87.8%) and Islamic women (89.1%), 56.3% of Islamic women favoured discontinuation compared with 70.5% of Christian women. The higher that women scored on empowerment indices, the more they opposed the practice. In logistic regression models, educational level (P=0.001), personal FGC experience (P=0.001), religious affiliation (P=0.02) and self-empowerment were factors (P=0.01 and P=0.004) significantly associated with favouring discontinuation. Future efforts encouraging an end to FGC must include the illiterate population in the Oromia region and focus on improving the status of women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. rahlenbeck@hotmail.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahlenbeck
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mekonnen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Melkamu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D019093:Circumcision, Female / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011209:Power, Psychological; D015995:Prevalence; D012649:Self Concept