Anti-FGM board pushes for community-based campaigns

Anti-FGM Board CEO Bernadette Loloju addressed church leaders, elders and government officials during a workshop to strategize on how to protect girls against FGM, early marriage and teen pregnancies during the school holiday. [Michael Saitoti, Standard]

The Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board has emphasised the need to work with communities to stop the vice.

The board’s chief executive Bernadette Loloju called for stronger community-based interventions to end FGM, early marriages and teen pregnancies.

Speaking in Maralal, Ms Loloju noted that girls from 22 counties were at the risk of FGM and early marriages in the ongoing school holiday.

“Our programmes also focus on girls who are already in marriage. Our government will not give up on them,” she said.

“Access to education, economic opportunities and health services - including HIV prevention, and sexual and reproductive health - will help enrich their lives and enhance their future.”

Besides county and sub-county anti-FGM steering committees in the 22 counties, the board is engaging chiefs, their assistants and nyumba kumi members to protect children, she said.