Taking action against Female Genital Mutilation: results
UNICEF/Kate Holt. At the age of one, Fatima was subjected to female genital mutilation in her village in Ethiopia's Afar region.
The Foundation Espoir has chosen to act in the most affected regions of Africa's most affected country, Ethiopia, where the vast majority of women undergo genital mutilation. In order to be effective, it was necessary to confront Ethiopian society, to act by associating and mobilising everyone: victims, associative actors, doctors, religious.
The objective is to question these practices and to enable women to emancipate themselves and invent their own path in society. To do this, they must be led to question social and religious norms.
Since the beginning of the project, every month, hospitals have treated nearly 1,500 victims who had complications and health centres have welcomed nearly 20,000 women. Awareness-raising programmes have reached millions of people. Doctors and hospitals have become the relay for this care and prevention on a daily basis. Many religious leaders have been involved and trained in these subjects.
This multifaceted support is decisive as the Ethiopian government aims to eradicate this practice by 2025.