UN agencies push for total elimination of FGM in Osun by 2030

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has expressed optimism that Osun State can achieve zero prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by 2030, as United Nations agencies intensify efforts to eliminate the practice.

The UNFPA Gender/FGM Analyst and South-West Team Lead under the United Nations Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM, Mrs Uzoma Ayodeji, stated this during the second day of a three-day training programme sponsored by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Project on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and implemented by Value Female Network (VFN).

Ayodeji said the programme was organised to train coalitions and networks on Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and FGM.

According to her, coalitions and networks possess strong associations and wide reach, making them frontline actors capable of taking anti-FGM messages back to their members and communities.

Describing FGM as a harmful traditional practice still occurring in Osun State, Ayodeji noted that the state had recorded progress in reducing prevalence from about 76.6 per cent to over 21.6 per cent.

“We have had some progress. Osun State used to be at about 76 per cent; the prevalence has gone down to about 21.6 per cent, and we are hopeful that by 2030 we will have 0 per cent. That is the goal,” she said.

Also speaking, Mrs Tolulope Agborere, a reproductive health coordinator at the Osun State Ministry of Health, said the ministry had been training civil society organisations, teachers and networks to ensure collective action towards reducing the prevalence of FGM in the state.

Agborere added that the Ministry of Health had also been working to prevent the medicalisation of FGM by engaging health workers in both public and private health sectors, noting that the efforts are yielding results as prevalence continues to decline.