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News & Sports
mojatu .com
UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM & MOJATU FOUNDATION HOSTS
THE NATIONAL FGM STAKEHOLDERS EVENT - By Valentine Nkoyo
On the 6 th of March, over 50
people representing different
organisations across the UK
attended the National Stakeholder
Engagement Event: FGM Systematic
Review Project in Nottingham.
This event shared the findings from
a project on healthcare experiences
related to Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM), funded by the UK National
Institute of Health Research (NIHR)
through a joint bid and partnership
between Mojatu Foundation and a
team of health researchers from the
University of Nottingham and other
experts. The project has involved
conducting two systematic reviews
of research evidence in order to
understand the experiences, needs,
barriers and facilitators around
seeking and providing FGM-related
healthcare in OECD (high income)
countries from the perspectives of
women and girls who have undergone
FGM/C and also health professionals.
The two reviews focused on
qualitative research evidence.
The team that undertook the research
included Dr. Catrin Evans, Valentine
Nkoyo, Juliet Albert, Dr Rita Twaheyo,
Dr. Julie McGarry, and Professor Gina
Awoko Higginbottom.
Dr Catrin Evans, the lead researcher
said “We are very pleased we were
able to work with Mojatu Foundation
because the voice of the community
and their expertise is very important
in research areas like this one”. She
also thanked the team involved in
the research and said “it is fantastic
to be presenting our findings today
in a brief summary but a lot of work
has gone into this work thanks to
the collective efforts of all those who
were involved”. The reviews provided
a unique, state of the art summary
of findings from almost 90 research
studies, with over one third of these
from the UK.
This event was attended by FGM
survivors, activists, members of
communities affected by FGM,
policy makers, researchers, students,
health
professionals,
education
professionals, commissioners, policy
makers and other interested parties.
Attendees came from as far as Cardiff,
London, Reading and other parts of
the country.
Valentine Nkoyo, CEO Mojatu
Foundation said “I am so pleased today
to see many partners, fellow activists
and campaigners we have worked
together on the FGM campaign. The
findings today reveal how much
work we still need to do and how
important it is to work with survivors.
Experiences of FGM survivors vary and
listening to their voices and acting on
issues they raise is key if we want to
end FGM in a generation. They have
the power to do that”
Part of the event included round table
discussions where participants were
asked to share their views on the
implications of the findings. Dr Rita
Tweheyo said “we hope the project
findings will help to inform your
own areas of work. Conversely, we
would greatly value your comments
and feedback in order to identify
key implications for practice, service
development, policy and future
research”.