Preventive actions and medical screening of FGM and their potential medical complications in general practice

This doctoral thesis in general medicine is based upon both a quantitative and qualitative survey carried out in 2007 in different districts of Paris with a large Sub-Saharan migrant population. The authors sent a questionnaire on prevention, screening, examination, diagnosis and abuse-reporting practices to 477 physicians. 152 answered, providing a valuable empirical material to evaluate the attitude of physicians facing cases of FGM.

Data Collection

Author(s)

Wehenkel, M.

Year of data collection

2007

Study population

152 general practitioners and their respective patients, in eastern districts of Paris with large populations originating from countries at risk

Prevalence data on FGM

The thesis shows that 63% of female physicians and 37% of their male colleagues already noticed FGM among their patients.

Other disaggregation

Although no disaggregated data is made available for mutilated patients, the study provides valuable data as regards preventive and screening practices by physicians, which are disaggregated by sex: 90% know in which countries FGM are performed. 49% of them know how to distinguish between the different types of FGM and barely 13% did receive a specific training on this issue. Nearly 50% of male physicians acknowledge that they do not know how to diagnose an FGM, whereas only 31% of their female colleagues do. Over 54% of female physicians and 71% of male physicians do not systematically try to establish whether their patient suffered FGM or their complications. Only 29% of physicians do systematically examine genitals of underaged girls to diagnose cases of FGM.

Limitations of study

Limited study population (152 physicians of both sexes)