 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Raqiya Abdalla, MSc, Somali Family Care Network, 4547 Maxfield Drive, Annandale, VA 22003, (703) 379-5900, raqiyad@yahoo.com, Kate H. Hayward, BA, Immigration and Refugee Services of America, 1717 Massachusetts Ave, NW, suite 701, Washington, DC 20036, Sergut Wolde-yohannes, PhD, Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, 801B Tremont Street, Bpston, MA 02118, and Nawal Nour, MD, MPH, Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115.
Over 130 million women and girls worldwide have undergone female genital cutting (FGC). Over 200,000 females in the United States have either undergone or are at risk for this procedure. Of these, 48,000 are younger than 18 years of age. In March 1997, female genital cutting became a federal crime in the United States. Because of this recent influx, practitioners will increasingly care for women who have undergone FGC. Providers must therefore have a comprehensive understanding of health issues involving this practice. After conducting ten two-day reproductive health workshops with the African Women's Health Center for refugee women and health providers, it is evident that the fears circumcised women voice and the concerns that providers express are similar nation-wide. Women who have undergone FGC worry that practitioners lack the knowledge to provide them with adequate care. Health providers, on the other hand, request skills necessary to approach and care for these patients. The workshops address the fears of both populations. It delineates the importance of cultural and linguistic competency for health providers. It also emphasizes and addresses the distrust that African refugee women have towards Western medicine. Reproductive health education is stressed with interactive dialogue between health providers and refugee women. Workshops like these attempt to break down the barriers of access to health care by creating an atmosphere of trust when addressing sensitive topics like female genital cutting.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community Education, Access to Health Care
Related Web page: www.brighamandwomens.org/africanwomenscenter
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Office of Refugee Resettlement
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Office of Refugee Resettlement - grant