Technical Consultation on the Medicalization of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

Date of event: 20 July 2009 - 22 July 2009
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Purpose of the Technical Consultation

The Technical Consultation will focus on galvanizing the support of the medical professional and paramedical personnel at the highest policy level towards the abandonment of FGM/C. Thus the result of the Consultation would be clear strategies to support health professionals and to enforce a medical code of ethics on the medicalization of FGM/C, including re-infibulation.

Participants

Participating countries: Egypt, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen

Representatives of national policy makers from the ministry of health and other involved ministries in the countries mentioned above (2-4 from each country)

  • UN agencies: WHO in collaboration with the UNFPA - UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
  • NGOs: Population Council, GTZ, Amnesty international
  • International professional organizations: (FIGO, World Medical Association, Medical Women's International Association, International Council of Nurses, International confederation of Midwives.

Tentative content of programme

  • What is medicalization (definition and framing of the practice) (WHO)
  • Key facts about medicalization (numbers, prevalence & trends (WHO)
  • Why medicalization happens (parents, medical professionals, government policies) Dr Mohamed Farid, USAID, Egypt Case in Egypt
  • Why medicalization is a problem - Panel discussion: UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO
  • Re-infibulation

Country reports on national trends, policies, tools/consensus documents/guidelines to end medicalization)

Group work on a Global Strategy to include the following

  1. Medical Code of ethics
  2. Government policies and laws
  3. Ministry Guidelines
  4. Capacity building of Health providers
  5. Advocacy

Consensus building and finalization of the Strategy Document to end medicalization

One-day national Kenya programme on 23 July 2009

The international meeting will be followed by a one-day national meeting on national implementation of the strategy. Proposed number of Kenyan participants in this meeting is 15.