Complications of female circumcision in the Sudan

This paper aims to identify and determine the prevalence of health problems encountered as a result of practising the Pharaonic, Intermediate and Sunna types of circumcision. A population of 3210 females from Northern Sudan were chosen by multistage random sampling. The study was carried out by means of a detailed questionnaire. Two types of complications were found: immediate and delayed. The immediate complications amounted to 790 (25%) from all the circumcised cases. The frequency for each type was: Pharaonic 26%, Intermediate 24%, Sunna 8%. The most common immediate complications were: difficulty in passing urine, wound infection and bleeding. The delayed complications amounted to 1023 (32%): Pharaonic 33%, Intermediate 31% and Sunna 15%. The most common delayed complications were the urinary tract infection, chronic pelvic infection, and results of tight circumcision. Circumcised respondents sometimes suffered more than one complication. The pattern of complications of Intermediate and Pharaonic circumcision was found to be the same.