amir imam yola laure fistula center
murtala muhammad specialist hospital
ISOFS DAKAR 2010
longitudinal cutting into anterior/posterior vagina wall using sharp instrument: knife or razor blade
with patient in lying, sitting or squatting position
3 types◦ superficial cut scarification◦ deep cut -tomy◦ excision of tissue -ectomy
incidence/prevalence not known since only patients with complication of fistula do report
the yankan gishiri is a cultural practice exclusively found in the hausa/fulani population of northern nigeria and southern niger republic
it is mostly restricted to the rural dwellers and virtually absent among those living in towns and cities
it is referred to by different names because of difference in dialect and for the different reasons why it is per-formed
yankan belu yankan beli yankan dankali yankan (an)guriya yankan jini yankan kakanda yankan kare yankan koko yankan tsatsefa yankan tsigai yankan zir-zir yankan zul-zul
yanka = cutting gishiri = salt
linguistically in hausa some things which are related to sexuality are given names which symbolize function or images
salt is necessary in making food more palatable, and as such sexual organs of both sexes are referred to as gishiri
there is a popular saying in hausa, i.e. „gishiri zaman duniya“
gynecologic◦ ba hanya (no road)◦ dyspareunia◦ infertility◦ prolapse◦ boil◦ itching◦ urine retention
obstetric◦ prolonged labor◦ attempt at episiotomy
other◦ ritual scratch of hymen◦ pain: headache, heart ache, abdominal pain
retrospective review of operation records in laure, danbatta and wudil vvf centers during a 3-yr period june 2007 to may 2010
out of the 1,372 vvf patients operated on by the author during this period 78 (5.7%) were due to yankan gishiri
in northern nigeria (kano state)
by local barber (wanzami) using knife 46◦ lying position
by TBA (ungozoma) using razor blade 32◦ sitting position during labor
yankan gishiri constitutes up to 5.7% of the causes of vvf as based on this review as compared to 3.7% in the literature (kees 2008)
this shows that the practice of yankan gishiri in hausa land needs some attention especially from the advocates of woman rights on female genital cutting though this practice cannot be classically termed so
Thank you
Isofs DAKAR 2010