NEW PROJECT LAUNCHED AT ACANA
Female Genital Cutting/ Mutilation (FGC/M), Project BAOBAB
Project “BAOBAB” is a program of the African Cultural Alliance Inc. (ACANA). This program is federally funded through the Office of Women’s Health, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is a community health care and prevention initiative with special focus on African immigrant and refugee women’s health. The primary focus is Female Genital Cutting/ Mutilation, (FGC/M).
Partners include the African Diaspora Health Initiative (ADHI) who will conduct community based outreach, culturally and linguistically appropriate peer led health education services to at least 200 immigrant women resettled from sub-Saharan Africa residing in Philadelphia and surrounding counties. The program will also provide training and education for health care providers. Other health partners include the Philadelphia Department of Public Health which will serve as the primary focus of the health care provider training component of the project.
Through this program, women will have the opportunities to know about the adverse effects (FGC/M) have not only on their reproductive and sexual life but in their overall enhanced functioning as well. To this end, women will have more information to make a decision, should the need arise, on whether to subject their daughters to such a procedure and to be part of a community-wide change that advocate for abandoning the practice. Well informed health care practitioners will have the knowledge to provide quality health care for the female members who have experienced FGC/M. ACANA will additionally advocate for the protection of these women who have experienced this inhume practice.
Female Genital Cutting (FGC) which is sometimes called mutilation or circumcision, includes all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury, to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. This practice is a fundamental human rights issue with adverse health and social implications.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC), Philadelphia ranks in the top 10 among other major U. S. cities with about 16,500 females mostly from Sub Saharan Africa potentially at risk for FGC/M. Available estimates In the United States, suggest that more than 513,000 girls and women have experienced FGC or are at risk of FGC. The World health Organization (WHO) states that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGC is concentrated.
This project is part of a three year grant from the Office of Women’s Health, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded to eight organizations across the country, including ACANA and Nationalities Service Center both of whom are located in the Philadelphia region.
Survey participants will be seen at ACANA offices on Mondays to Thursdays 10:00 am -6:00 PM
Participants will also be identified in the communities and provided with information, referrals and resources.
ACANA nurse will hold a clinic day once a week at ACANA offices on Mondays and make referrals to African Diaspora Health Initiative (ADHI).
Health education workshops highlighting FGC will be held once a month at ACANA offices and in the community.
Contact: Program Manager Nettie Johnson: Tel: 215-729-8225 ext. 112, Email: nettiejohnson@acanaus.org
ACANA: 5530 Chester Avenue, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19143