The Prague Post - Ivorian women fight FGM with reconstructive surgery

EUR -
AED 4.166907
AFN 79.412775
ALL 98.002746
AMD 436.838634
ANG 2.030334
AOA 1040.307236
ARS 1300.455878
AUD 1.759791
AWG 2.042043
AZN 1.92898
BAM 1.956358
BBD 2.290073
BDT 138.150588
BGN 1.956046
BHD 0.427332
BIF 3331.366164
BMD 1.134468
BND 1.461839
BOB 7.836819
BRL 6.41544
BSD 1.134163
BTN 96.952502
BWP 15.223533
BYN 3.711661
BYR 22235.578685
BZD 2.278129
CAD 1.569588
CDF 3250.251514
CHF 0.935142
CLF 0.027899
CLP 1070.609174
CNY 8.17101
CNH 8.16921
COP 4733.3194
CRC 574.933437
CUC 1.134468
CUP 30.06341
CVE 111.178118
CZK 24.893615
DJF 201.617896
DKK 7.460598
DOP 67.163287
DZD 150.114023
EGP 56.595671
ERN 17.017025
ETB 152.708642
FJD 2.560946
FKP 0.848363
GBP 0.844334
GEL 3.097082
GGP 0.848363
GHS 13.556829
GIP 0.848363
GMD 81.681367
GNF 9819.957561
GTQ 8.706021
GYD 237.975232
HKD 8.884793
HNL 29.522112
HRK 7.535592
HTG 148.464457
HUF 402.917969
IDR 18534.943089
ILS 4.031361
IMP 0.848363
INR 97.105551
IQD 1485.744828
IRR 47789.47704
ISK 144.395658
JEP 0.848363
JMD 180.291379
JOD 0.804378
JPY 162.798467
KES 146.566857
KGS 99.209042
KHR 4540.053707
KMF 496.329333
KPW 1021.035538
KRW 1554.118898
KWD 0.347999
KYD 0.945119
KZT 578.244205
LAK 24521.691272
LBP 101619.885094
LKR 339.808336
LRD 226.832646
LSL 20.264607
LTL 3.34979
LVL 0.686228
LYD 6.216717
MAD 10.460373
MDL 19.615553
MGA 5078.178601
MKD 61.453383
MMK 2381.75675
MNT 4062.138866
MOP 9.145523
MRU 44.993137
MUR 51.550076
MVR 17.538536
MWK 1966.656444
MXN 21.9517
MYR 4.844429
MZN 72.483889
NAD 20.263803
NGN 1802.205172
NIO 41.742264
NOK 11.525575
NPR 155.124003
NZD 1.905837
OMR 0.436404
PAB 1.134163
PEN 4.173682
PGK 4.649284
PHP 63.091756
PKR 319.707019
PLN 4.2439
PYG 9059.182412
QAR 4.135142
RON 5.069028
RSD 117.297224
RUB 90.516171
RWF 1624.677073
SAR 4.255125
SBD 9.458213
SCR 16.129416
SDG 681.239113
SEK 10.840985
SGD 1.461796
SHP 0.891514
SLE 25.774756
SLL 23789.233264
SOS 648.15043
SRD 41.578448
STD 23481.203333
SVC 9.924916
SYP 14750.904198
SZL 20.269704
THB 37.068189
TJS 11.653405
TMT 3.976311
TND 3.385245
TOP 2.657042
TRY 44.06213
TTD 7.704788
TWD 34.051405
TZS 3068.736705
UAH 46.996279
UGX 4142.216959
USD 1.134468
UYU 47.243047
UZS 14623.038369
VES 107.415911
VND 29465.545162
VUV 137.616259
WST 3.142581
XAF 656.109277
XAG 0.033996
XAU 0.000342
XCD 3.065958
XDR 0.819254
XOF 656.143988
XPF 119.331742
YER 276.696136
ZAR 20.360025
ZMK 10211.575041
ZMW 30.84916
ZWL 365.29833
  • SCS

    -0.2300

    10.02

    -2.3%

  • BCC

    -2.5850

    87.335

    -2.96%

  • JRI

    -0.0940

    12.726

    -0.74%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    38.53

    +0.34%

  • BCE

    -0.1750

    21.485

    -0.81%

  • BTI

    0.0200

    44.46

    +0.04%

  • NGG

    0.1600

    73.58

    +0.22%

  • CMSC

    -0.2560

    22.004

    -1.16%

  • RIO

    -0.2600

    61.98

    -0.42%

  • BP

    -0.3150

    28.885

    -1.09%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    10.91

    -0.09%

  • AZN

    -0.2400

    69.68

    -0.34%

  • RBGPF

    4.2000

    67.2

    +6.25%

  • VOD

    0.0300

    10.42

    +0.29%

  • CMSD

    -0.3820

    21.788

    -1.75%

  • RELX

    0.1200

    55.11

    +0.22%

Ivorian women fight FGM with reconstructive surgery
Ivorian women fight FGM with reconstructive surgery / Photo: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT - AFP

Ivorian women fight FGM with reconstructive surgery

Adele Koue Sungbeu underwent female genital mutilation as a teenager but now holds her head up high and smiles broadly as she walks to work in Abidjan after reconstructive surgery.

Text size:

The 45-year-old midwife is one of 28 women from the west African country who underwent the procedure last month in a public hospital in Ivory Coast's economic capital.

In charge of the surgery was obstetric surgeon Sarah Abramowicz, a leading specialist in female genital reconstruction in France.

Sungbeu, who has three boys aged 22, 16 and 12 and is going through a divorce, said before the operation that her circumcision did not cause her any difficulties.

But she said she felt "embarrassed" by the way partners looked at her.

"They don't say anything but you feel that they're not comfortable," she added. "And that makes you feel uncomfortable.

"When you look at other women, you're completely different. That's my problem. When I open my legs, it's completely flat."

Sungbeu said she had been trying to get the delicate surgery to repair her clitoris and labia minora for some time.

After the operation, she said she was "proud to have done it".

Another woman at the clinic, who preferred not to give her name as she waited her turn, said she travelled to neighbouring Burkina Faso and paid 370,000 CFA francs ($635) for the procedure.

But the operation was never carried out.

"I was circumcised at the age of six by a midwife. It's hampering my relationships and my husband left because of it," said the woman, 31.

- 'Militant' act -

One of the aims of the initiative, spearheaded by the Muskoka Fund set up in 2010 by the French government, is to treat women for free in hospitals.

"It shouldn't be something accessible only to those who can afford it through private doctors," said Muskoka Fund coordinator Stephanie Nadal Gueye.

The mission has a budget of 60,000 euros ($67,500) and includes a significant and unprecedented training component for hospital obstetricians.

Abramowicz, one of the only women working in the field in France, has trained 10 surgeons from six French-speaking African countries -- Guinea, Benin, Senegal, Chad, Togo and Ivory Coast.

She also brought in seven paramedics, mainly midwives, to provide comprehensive care for the 28, including psychosocial care to prevent them being stigmatised for having undergone the procedure.

A report by the UN children agency, UNICEF, last year estimated that more than 230 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation -- 30 million more than in 2016.

In Ivory Coast, one woman in three is a victim of FGM.

The practice is internationally recognised as a human rights violation.

Abramowicz said her happy and proud former patients have since been sending her "10 photos a day" of their reconstructed genitals.

"The value of this mission is that it has planted seeds among healthcare workers but also among these women," she said.

"They should become advocates. There's something militant about getting repaired. The fight begins like that."

C.Sramek--TPP