Medical practitioners publicly reject the practice of FGM/C in Nazlet Ebeid

The unveiling of the plaque on which the declaration of Nazlet Ebeid’s Health Unit was engraved

Cairo, 13 September, 2006:
Health workers in the village of Nazlet Ebeid in the Governorate of Minya, Upper Egypt, have declared their opposition to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), a key step towards total elimination of the practice in the village.

The declaration was made on Monday with the unveiling of a marble plaque, at a ceremony attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health and Population, other partners and community members.

Removing the curtain from the plaque was followed by a lively celebration, in which some 600 people from Nazlet Ebeid and other villages took part.

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Alfred Shawki, the manager of the Health Unit said the aim was to create an environment that rejected a harmful custom. ”We aspire to be the light that guides the entire village”, said Dr Shawki.

According to campaigners in Nalzet Ebeid, the village embodies a genuine success story in the broader struggle against FGM/C. Surveys show that only two families remain supportive of the practice out of the 941 families reached by the UNICEF-supported FGM/C Abandonment Programme. The Programme was launched in 2004 when UNICEF began collaboration with the Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development (BLACD), and another local NGO, Marimina as part of an extensive alliance against the practice.

UNICEF Child Protection Officer, Nadra Zaki said the people of Nazlet Ebeid had reason to be proud of their achievement. “The fact that your doctors stand firmly against FGM/C shows that they care about the health of the girls of Nazlet Ebeid”, she said.

“The practice of FGM/C negates all ethics of the medical profession and it does not relate to medicine in any way” said Dr. Khaled Otaifi, Consultant of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ministry of Health and Population.

14 year-old Phoebe Eid from Nazlet Ebeid speaks at the ceremony

At the national and sub-national levels, the Ministry of Health and Population has been active in raising awareness on FGM/C, through a comprehensive training programme for doctors and nurses which gives them the knowledge and skills necessary to convince families to abandon FGM/C. This is done within the framework of enforcing the Ministerial Decree No. 261 of the year 1996 which prohibits the practice of FGM/C in public as well as private hospitals and clinics. The Ministry also supports awareness raising activities at the community level.

Among those attending the event was Mina Merzeq, a young man who has been volunteering with the FGM Abandonment Team for the past two years. He believes a strong message has been sent to people in the community on the dangers and harms of FGM/C. “When people don’t know that something is wrong, they naturally end up making mistakes. That is why they need to know what is right from wrong”.

“We would like Nazlet Ebeid to be a beacon spreading the message that girls have the right not to be harmed” said Maher Bouchra, BLACD’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees. “This is just the beginning for us to take on the role of protecting the rights of the weaker members of society, especially children”.

Under the umbrella of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood’s anti-FGM/C National programme ‘FGM/C Free Village programme‘, UNICEF is supporting activities in 40 communities in the four governorates of Minya, Sohag, Assiut, and Qena.

For more information and photographs please contact:

Simon Ingram
Communication Officer
UNICEF Egypt
Tel: 526-5083 thru 9 x 210/208
singram@unicef.org

Iman Morooka
Assistant Communication Officer
UNICEF Egypt
Tel: 526-5083 thru 9 x 206
imorooka@unicef.org