Abstract
BackgroundStudies on healthcare providers’ awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding female genital mutilation (FGM) have shown a lack of awareness of the prevalence, diagnosis, and management of FGM. Our objective was to systematically review the literature on interventions improving healthcare providers’ capacities of prevention and treatment of FGM.MethodsSystematic review of the published and grey literature on interventions aimed at improving healthcare providers’ capacities of prevention and treatment of FGM (1995–2015). Outcomes observed were knowledge and attitudes about FGM, medicalization, and prevention.ResultsOnly two studies met our inclusion criteria. They reported on educational interventions aimed at increasing caregivers’ knowledge on FGM. One was conducted with 59 providers, in Mali; the other one with 11 certified nurse-midwives in the United States. The studies report basic statistics regarding the improvement of healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitude on FGM and medicalization of the practice. Neither conducted multivariable analysis nor evaluated the training effects on the quality of the care offered, the clinical outcomes and the satisfaction of women attended, and prevention.ConclusionAs health care providers are essential in prevention and treatment of FGM, developing effective interventions is crucial.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1674-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Studies on healthcare providers’ awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding female genital mutilation (FGM) have shown a lack of awareness of the prevalence, diagnosis, and management of FGM
In spite of available learning resources, studies on caregivers’ and medical students’ awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding FGM showed a lack of awareness of the prevalence, diagnosis, and management of FGM and difficulties in correctly classifying FGM according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification [7]
Study Designs and Intervention Descriptions The two studies reported on educational interventions for healthcare providers aimed at increasing caregivers’ knowledge on FGM and related health consequences [11, 12]
Summary
Studies on healthcare providers’ awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding female genital mutilation (FGM) have shown a lack of awareness of the prevalence, diagnosis, and management of FGM. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), female genital mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia It is a violation of human rights, has no health benefits and can be responsible for uro-gynecological, obstetric and psychosexual consequences. Interventions that could improve healthcare of women with FGM and prevention of the practice have been investigated only rarely [7] These women have specific health care needs and health care providers are essential in ensuring proper screening, diagnosis, care, counselling and prevention [8, 9]
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