Marwa Osama Kamel, Ihab Abd-Elghany Abd-Allah, MD, MSc, and Reginald F. Gipson, MD, MPH. John Snow Inc., Healthy Mother/Healthy Child, 21 Misr Helwan Agricultural Road, Floor 10, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt, 202 359 1487, mkamel@jsiegypt.com

Female genital mutilation prevalence in Egypt is 97%. Changing any attitude or behavior is challenging but impacting female genital mutilation practice steeped in culture and religion are especially resistant to change. Past efforts conducted by government and non-government organizations have met with limited success in changing this practice. The Healthy Mother/ Healthy Child project has worked extensively during the past three years to impact these difficult constraints. This presentation will provide information on these project component: „X Barriers to changing female genital mutilation practices in Egypt „X A training developed for health and social workers in Upper Egypt to provide skills in how to change community beliefs, attitudes and behaviors „X A training provided to physicians (60% of female genital mutilations are conducted by physicians and trained personnel) „X Outcomes based on the result of training participation

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