Tracing change in female genital mutilation/cutting: Shifting norms and practices among communities in Narok and Kisii counties, Kenya—Brief

The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) estimates that 21 percent of girls and women ages 15 to 49 years have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Although the national prevalence of FGM/C has steadily declined from 38 percent in 1998 to 21 percent in 2014, the prevalence remains high in some ethnic groups such, as the Somali (94%), Samburu (87%), Kisii (85%), and the Maasai (78%). Figure 1 shows that prevalence of FGM/C remain very high among ethnic Somali women, older cohorts of Maasai and Kisii women, but appear to be declining in the youngest age cohorts.