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Obstetrics and gynaecology
Research
Survey on female genital mutilation/cutting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  1. Abdulrahim A Rouzi1,
  2. Rigmor C Berg2,3,
  3. Rana Alamoudi1,
  4. Faten Alzaban4,
  5. Mohammad Sehlo4,5
  1. 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeedah, Saudi Arabia
  2. 2 Department of Community Medicine, Tromso University, Tromso, Norway
  3. 3 Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
  4. 4 Department of Psychiatry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  5. 5 Department of Psychiatry, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
  1. Correspondence to Professor Abdulrahim A Rouzi; aarouzi{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Objectives The objective of this study was to determine whether female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) exists in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Design A cross-sectional study.

Setting King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Participants Between December 2016 and August 2017, women attending the obstetrics and gynaecology clinics were asked to participate in a cross-sectional survey. This included questions on demographics, FGM/C status and type and attitudes towards the practice.

Results In a convenience sample of 963 women aged 18 to 75 years, 175 (18.2%) had undergone FGM/C. Compared with women without FGM/C, women with FGM/C were older, married, non-Saudi and had a lower monthly income. Thirty-seven (21.1%) women had had FGM/C with some cutting of body parts (type I or II), 11 (6.3%) with suturing (type III), 46 (26.3%) with no cutting of body parts (type IV) and 81 (46.3%) did not know their type of FGM/C. There was also a significant association between nationality and age at which FGM/C was performed, with Saudi women undergoing the procedure earlier than Egyptian, Somali, Yemeni and Sudanese women.

Conclusions FGM/C is prevalent in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, among immigrant women from other countries, and it is practised among Saudi women. Further research is needed to determine its prevalence.

  • female
  • genital
  • mutilation
  • Jeddah
  • Saudi Arabia
  • community gynaecology

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024684

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors AAR and RB designed and conceived the study. AAR, RA, FA and MS facilitated the data acquisition. AAR and RA supervised the data entry and integrity. AAR, RB and RA analysed the data and prepared the tables. AAR and RB wrote the manuscript. All authors provided input and reviewed the final draft.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval The study was approved by the King Abdulaziz University Hospital Institutional Review Board and performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations in Saudi Arabia.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement There are no additional data available.

    • Patient consent for publication Obtained.