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Female genital mutilation practice in Senegal

Muslim religion. There is also a substantial variation in the prevalence of FGM by ethnicity with more than two-thirds in
Pour and Soninike and < 3% in Serer and Wolof. By contrast, the difference in the prevalence of FGM by educational level
and urban-rural by residence is less pronounced (UNICEF, 2022). Senegal is thus a good sample to study FGM practice
and its related issues.
There is evidence that women with different demographic characteristics may have different views and practice
behaviors about FGM. For example, women who have knowledge of obstetric health hazard caused by FGM are less
vulnerable to have reproductive health problems, while problems are more severe among women who do not have any
such knowledge (Coomarasamy et al., 2016; Connor et al., 2016; Herieka & Dhar, 2003; Setegn et al., 2016). Studies
have shown that women with lower education are doubly vulnerable, both physically and socially because they do not
have adequate information about health hazards, and thus they keep on flowing towards the wave of traditional practices.
Consequently, they become a part of the rigid and wrong social practices/systems. By contrast, women with adequate
knowledge about various health hazards to some extent can help themselves to unfollow traditional and unhygienic
practices, and to seek necessary treatments when in need so as to avoid harmful consequences (Doucet et al., 2017;
Kloning et al., 2014). It is thus essential to understand the connection between women’s attitudes and level of FGM in
Senegal whereas traditional beliefs are powerful (Tamire & Molla, 2013; Watkins, 2016; Doucet et al., 2017).
Furthermore, although some studies have investigated the attitudes toward continuation of FGM among Senegal
women (Adigüzel et al., 2019; Ciment, 1999; Levy et al., 2021; Mohammed et al., 2018) it is not sufficient to understand
whether women’s knowledge and believes are associated with their health behaviors and treatment seeking behaviors
when in need. Moreover, due to lack of data, the previous studies have not adequately investigated the relationship
between STIs and FGM. Taking all together, the primary goals of this study were to (i) investigate factors associated with
prevalence of FGM and associated with its performance by traditional practitioners, (ii) examine factors associated with
women’s attitude regarding whether FGM should continue or be stopped, and (ii) examine factors associated with having
STIs and associated with treatment seeking among STIs. Below we describe the data and methods used for the current
study, followed by the results, interpretations of key findings and their implications.
2. Data and Methods

2.1. Data sources
The Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of Senegal 2010 – 2011 and 2019 datasets were used to fulfill the study objectives.
The reason why the present study used the 2010 – 2011 dataset is because the 2019 DHS dataset did not collect data on
STIs. DHS provides profound and comprehensive information at the individual and household levels. The total sample
size for this analysis was 15,688 for STIs (from the 2010 – 2011 dataset) and 8649 for FGM (from the 2019 dataset).
The DHS is a nationally representative household survey with a multi-stage stratified systematic sampling design that
provides data for a broad range of monitoring and impacts evaluation indicators, health, and nutrition, etc., in the area of
population. The survey collected various information on the health issues of men, women, and children. Furthermore, the
survey included various key indicators such as fertility rates, under-five mortality rates, contraceptive use, FGM, skilled
assistance with births, childhood immunization coverage, nutritional status of children, along with knowledge and STIs,
behavior regarding HIV and future perspective. There are several types of questionnaires: household questionnaires,
women’s questionnaires (women aged 15 – 49 years), children’s questionnaires, and men’s questionnaires. There are also
several standardized questionnaire modules for the countries with interest in topics while information on HIV testing is
also available. More details can be found at the DHS official website https://dhsprogram.com. This study focused only on
the women’s questionnaires.

2.2. Measures
2.2.1. Dependent variables
The six variables were used as dependent variables in this study. First, whether the respondent was circumcised or not?
(No “0”/Yes “1”). Second, who performed circumcision? (Traditional circumciser, traditional birth attendant, other
traditional, medical personnel, and missing/do not know). These categories were recoded into a dichotomous category
of practitioners as traditional circumciser “1” versus all others “0.” Third, women’s attitude toward the continuation of
FGM practice (“1” should continue, “2” should stop, “3” depends, and “8” don’t know). The variable was recoded in
to three categories: (1) should continue, (2) should stop, and (3) do not know/depends. Fourth, ever heard of a Sexually
Transmitted Infections (STIs) or ST symptoms (STSs)? (Yes “1” vs. No “0”). Fifth, whether a woman had STIs/STSs

100 International Journal of Population Studies | 2021, Volume 7, Issue 1