Amro Mohamed Akasha
University of Gezira Faculty of Medicine, Sudan
Title: Awareness against female circumcision in Portibill village in Gezira State in Sudan
Biography
Biography: Amro Mohamed Akasha
Abstract
"Female circumcision in Sudan is one of the deadly traditions in Sudan that causes maternal death each year. Female circumcision or female genital mutilation is defined by the WHO as the following: “Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medica reasons”. This fatal tradition have costed the life of 100s of mothers in Sudan and especially in Portbill a small village at the outskirt of the State of Gezira that holds a population of three thousand people and about 300 families. A small statistics was made during the past couple of years on the rate of maternal mortality in the village during the past 5 to 6 years and the result were the following: From 2010-2011 the rate of maternal death was 14% mostly due to post mortem hemorrhage From 2011-2012 the rate on maternal death was 16% From 2012-2014 the rate on maternal death was 16-17% From 2014-2015 the rate on maternal death was 15% From 2015-2016 the rate on maternal death was 15-14% Due to the philosophy of our college which was built on community medicine orientation we were very involved with our community thus we applied our knowledge on the community and discussed the issues. One of the greatest issues that caught my attention was the high rate of maternal death in this small village thus I decided to form a research were I discovered that 90% of the female gender in the village were mutilated which struck my mind to the thought that this is the leading cause of maternal death in this village so I took a stand against this unorthodox habit and formed a small committee of highly qualified doctors and medical students who found this subject interesting and started educating the village on the danger of this act and why it should be stopped. My outcome from this research is to decrease maternal mortality in Portibill by denying this act of tradition that is one of the cause’s maternal deaths. "