Severity of Female Circumcision in Sudan: Evidence from DHS Data

C.P. Prakasam, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
S. Sureender, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
M. Benarji Prasad, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Female circumcision is widely practiced in all regions of Sudan, involving partial or total removal of external genitalia, in three forms, called: Sunna, Intermediate, and Pharaonic. Reasons can be broadly classified: 1) Psychosexual 2) Social 3) Hygiene 4) Myths and 5) religious reasons. Main objective of this investigation is to examine the background characteristics of circumcised and non- circumcised women for their reasons preferring the procedure, reasons for attitudes, suggestions for eradication and husband's attitudes towards the practice of circumcision. To achieve the above objective data would be derived from SUDAN DEMOGRAPHIC HEALTH SURVEY 1989/90. It has been hypothesized that: a) Male prefer circumcised women b) increases child survival, c) circumcised women would have more reproductive health problem than non circumcised women. Chi-square test would be used to establish the association between Non-circumcisions with circumcision women. By using Logit regression (binary) influence of background variables on circumcised, would be examined.