Empowering Through Knowledge Transfer

In The Gambia, 3 out of 4 women and girls have suffered some form of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which means they will need medical care for decades to come. Although health personnel are at the forefront of the care circuit in cases of FGM and in a privileged position to promote its abandonment, our studies reveal that these professionals are unaware of its consequences and share erroneous ideas about the practice. Given the evident need to increase their capacities in terms of identification, treatment and prevention of FGM, we developed a training program adapted to the cultural context of the country. In 2011, the success of our effort and commitment resulted in the signing of an agreement with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, United Nations agencies (UNICEF and WHO), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Wassu Gambia Kafo, with the objective of developing the National Training Program for Health Professionals on FGM. This program is aimed at 1,500 health professionals (medicine, nursing and midwives) and is being implemented throughout the country under the direction of Wassu Gambia Kafo, positively impacting the health of women and girls. We have expanded our training programme, through the Ministry of Health, to include traditional midwives who, due to the lack of qualified personnel and the centralization of health resources, attend almost half of the births that take place in The Gambia. Traditional midwives are chosen by the members of their community and live with them, in some cases acting as “circumcisers.” Through our training, they learn to identify and anticipate complications of FGM during childbirth, understanding its negative impact on health and the role they can play in its prevention.