Cause; Practice and Belief status of females (15-49 years old) on Female Genital Mutilation in Tigray, Ethiopia, 2020

Abstract Aim: There is evidence on the cause, practice and poor status of female genital tract mitigation in Tigray, Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess the cause, practice and believing status of females regarding genital mitigation in Tigray, Ethiopia. Methods: A quantitative, community-base, cross-sectional study was conducted among reproductive aged girls and women in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the study area (Atsbi District) from the Tigray Region 93 districts. A simple random sampling technique used to select four local administrations and 201 study participants. The data were collected using pre-tested structured questionnaires, and the data were entered into SPSS Version 23 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the study subjects. The frequency, percentage, and graph ware used. Result: In this study, 78 (38.8%) of the study participants had ever been circumcised, 36 (29%) had genital mutilation practiced at under 5 years of age, and 55 (44.8%) had female genital mutilation performed by traditional methods, 168(83.6%) had FGMP performed using razor blades and 102 (50.7%) had sociological and cultural causes. Conclusion: Females’ and parents’ health education; should be strengthened, IEC/BCCmaterials should be expanded in different areas, religious leaders’ involvement in awareness creation regarding FGMPs should be strengthened, and further study should be performed.