The government is developing the National Policy on Eradication of female genital mutilation.
Gender CS Margaret Kobia said on Friday the policy is expected to be approved in February next year and rolled out in campaigns against FGM.
“The ministry will further delve into social and behaviour change programming to handle the socio-cultural challenges that have hindered the success of current interventions on FGM,” Kobia said.
She spoke during the launch of Anti-FGM Board Strategic documents in Nairobi.
Kobia said the launch of 11 strategic documents will serve the immediate and long-term needs of the state and non-state actors in the campaign.
Statistics show that FGM remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the country, Kobia said.
Data on the geographical distribution, Kobia said, points to a cultural-driven practice and it is estimated at least 9.3 million girls and women have undergone the cut and are suffering with its neegative health consequenceshealtliving with the negative effects.
SOMALIS HIGHEST
The CS said the national prevalence of FGM is 21 per cent and a lot needs to be done in the next three years. It has dropped from 27 per cent in 2009. “The country should be able to reach around 18 per cent,” Kobia said.
The prevalence for Somalis stands at 94 per cent, Samburu is 86 per cent, Kisii 84 per cent and Maasai 78 per cent.
Most of other communities have recorded low prevalence levels.
Kobia said the government in partnership with non-state actors is taking measures to respond to gender- based violence and FGM by developing a policy for action.
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“We are providing technical support and capacity-building for service providers and carrying out awareness creation and advocacy campaigns with the aim of eradicating FGM,” she said.
United Nations Population Fund representative Dr Ademola Olajide said Kenya should adopt new ways of gathering data on FGM as the current method — demographic survey — is not enough since some people do not tell the truth.
“Interviews at homes to gather information at times may not be correct,” he said.
Olajide said it’s necessary to ask the right question to get a truthful answer and get proper data. “We need data that lets us know whether people are just paying lip service and this means our policies should be geared towards capturing data,” Olajide said.
According to Unicef, there are more than 200 million girls and women who are living with the negative effects of FGM globally.
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