Research on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Children
The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) together with the Division of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, (RACP) is conducting a survey on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in children.
The WHO reports that FGM is practised in more than 26 African countries, Middle East and parts of Asia. It is estimated that 100-140 million women and girls have undergone FGM worldwide and 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM every year. There is limited information about the practice of FGM in children and adolescents who live in Australia.
In 2013, the Australian Government organised a National Summit on FGM to raise awareness of FGM and to develop strategies to eliminate the practice of FGM in Australian girls and women. This is one of the Government funded studies that will address knowledge gaps about FGM, providing new data obtained through Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit.
This project will evaluate the prevalence of FGM in girls <18 years of age seen by paediatricians in the last 5 years and information about their knowledge, attitudes and clinical practice regarding FGM in Australia. We hope that the results of this survey will assist in developing educational resources for health professionals to improve the health outcomes of girls who undergo FGM procedures.
This questionnaire will take no more than 15 minutes to complete. To complete the survey online, please click the link Female Genital Mutilation Survey and follow the online survey instructions.
Participation in this project is voluntary. The questionnaire is de-identified and confidentiality will be maintained in publishing and presentation of the results at all times. Only aggregated group data will be reported. Data will be stored on a secure hospital server in a password protected database and will be accessible only to staff at the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit who are directly involved in the study. Data will be destroyed after the statutory period of 7 years.
If you have any concerns about the conduct of this study, please do not hesitate to discuss them with the above mentioned investigators at the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (telephone: 9845 3095) or with the secretary of the Ethics Committee which has approved this project.
Prof Elizabeth Elliott on behalf of all study investigators:
Director, The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit
Investigators:
A/Prof Yvonne Zurynski - Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, University of Sydney, Tel:(02) 9845 1202
Dr Shanti Raman - Dept of Community Paediatrics, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Tel:(02) 9828 4844
Dr Karen Zwi - Community Child Health, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, Tel:(02) 9382 8074
Dr Marie Deverell - Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, University of Sydney, Tel:(02) 98452200
Dr Premala Sureshkumar - Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, University of Sydney, Tel:(02) 98453095
Advisory group members:
A/Prof Susan Moloney, Dr Jacqueline Small, Prof Ajay Rane, Ms Juliana Nkrumah, Dr Nesrin Varol
