Burkina Faso provides free care to girls injured by excision
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In Boulsa, Burkina Faso, police and health officials responded to a report of excision and provided medical care to twelve girls aged two to twelve.
The girls were discovered in the Daporé neighborhood after the provincial directorate in charge of family and solidarity alerted the police. Police officers found three girls bleeding and immediately took them to the Boulsa Medical Center with a surgical antenna for treatment. They then located nine more girls who had been hidden.
Medical professionals at the center provided complete and free care to all twelve girls. Dr. Emile Compaoré, the district health officer for Boulsa, noted that the long-term consequences of excision can harm a girl’s development. Police identified a woman believed to be the practitioner of excision, and they learned she had allegedly requested 2,000 CFA francs and four kola nuts from the families of each girl.
Authorities are questioning the woman and any accomplices before bringing them before the Court of Grande Instance of Kaya. Burkina Faso’s legal code allows for prison sentences of one to twenty-one years and fines of 500,000 to 10,000,000 CFA francs for those who perform excision, depending on the outcome.
