Breast Ironing in Cameroon – Part 2

This article is a continuation of ‘Breast Ironing in Cameroon – Part 1’.

The agency conducted extensive research in 2006 with surveys of 5,700 women 10 to 82, who also revealed that half of girls whose breasts began to grow before the age of nine have this practice more common in cities than in the field. 53% of the girls in
Douala, the largest city in the country, have suffered, according to the study.

A menduo, the pain does not achieve its objective Ironing protector: many girls become pregnant, which immediately sets them apart from the school. They get married or become single mothers. Some may seek an illegal abortion (only allowed in cases of rape
or endangers the health of the mother). In Cameroon, three out of ten women are pregnant or have had at least one child at age 20, according to GTZ, and only 26% of married women using contraception.

The age for marriage is 15 years for women, but according to the U.S. report, many families girls married at 12. This work also points to the increase in rape, the victims have an average age of 15.

In addition to early pregnancies, AIDS is also a threat in Cameroon. The incidence is high. For every 1,000 people between 15 and 49, 53 are HIV positive, according to World Health Organization. Life expectancy in this country with 40% of animists, Christians
and as much 20% of Muslims, is 51 years.

Some experts believe that after practice Ironing is the taboo of discussing sex with children and that is where it could come there for part of the solution. That is precisely one of the ways that have been launched to try to stop this practice. The "aunts"
(tantines, in the affectionate diminutive French) the smaller the charge. They are not family, but they are teenagers who have been unwillingly mothers between 12 and 18 years (something that happens it is estimated that 21% of girls).

Framed in more than 250 associations under the umbrella organization Renata, some 15,000 young people have been trained to educate adolescents on sexual and reproductive health, including prevention of AIDS. With the support of German, the tantines have
launched the media campaign Say no to ironing of breasts.

On their website (www.tantines.org), activists clearly explain the causes underlying the sordid practice of ironing. "People think that breasts are going to attract men, the breasts will push girls into early sexual activity that can get them pregnant, that
girls can grow normally and continue their studies after ironing, girls have no shame for having breasts and "they explain.

They also address the consequences of a practice "very painful and can completely destroy the breasts," causes a severe trauma and cause physiological problems.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=15696

Posted by Fouad Ashraf on Mar 13 2012. Filed under Africa, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry