51% of Northerners support FGM

Over half of Northerners support female genital mutilation (FGM), according to Buwda, a Ghanaian NGO.

FGM involves the complete removal or partial removal or alteration of the genitals for non-medical reasons.


The coordinator of Buwda in the Bawku municipality, Abubakari Shaibu, in an interview with Radio XYZ’s Upper East regional correspondent, Musah Lansah, said recent research suggested 51% of people in the region supported the pratice, which is still common in the country's three Northern regions.


Fifty per cent of girls below 15 years in the Bawku Municipality have undergone FGM according to recent research findings undertaken by Action Aid Ghana, an NGO which is partnering Bawdu in education campaigns about the practice.

It is one of the major negative cultural practices that violate the fundamental human rights of girls and women, with serious health implications for them.


An estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women in the world today have undergone some form of FGM and two million are at risk of the practice each year.