Pallade Veneta - Ivorian women fight FGM with reconstructive surgery

The 45-year-old midwife is one of 28 women from the west African country who underwent the procedure last month in a public hospital in Ivory Coast's economic capital.

In charge of the surgery was obstetric surgeon Sarah Abramowicz, a leading specialist in female genital reconstruction in France.

Sungbeu, who has three boys aged 22, 16 and 12 and is going through a divorce, said before the operation that her circumcision did not cause her any difficulties.

But she said she felt "embarrassed" by the way partners looked at her.

"They don't say anything but you feel that they're not comfortable," she added. "And that makes you feel uncomfortable.

"When you look at other women, you're completely different. That's my problem. When I open my legs, it's completely flat."

Sungbeu said she had been trying to get the delicate surgery to repair her clitoris and labia minora for some time.

After the operation, she said she was "proud to have done it".

Another woman at the clinic, who preferred not to give her name as she waited her turn, said she travelled to neighbouring Burkina Faso and paid 370,000 CFA francs ($635) for the procedure.

But the operation was never carried out.

"I was circumcised at the age of six by a midwife. It's hampering my relationships and my husband left because of it," said the woman, 31.

- 'Militant' act -

One of the aims of the initiative, spearheaded by the Muskoka Fund set up in 2010 by the French government, is to treat women for free in hospitals.

"It shouldn't be something accessible only to those who can afford it through private doctors," said Muskoka Fund coordinator Stephanie Nadal Gueye.

The mission has a budget of 60,000 euros ($67,500) and includes a significant and unprecedented training component for hospital obstetricians.

Abramowicz, one of the only women working in the field in France, has trained 10 surgeons from six French-speaking African countries -- Guinea, Benin, Senegal, Chad, Togo and Ivory Coast.

She also brought in seven paramedics, mainly midwives, to provide comprehensive care for the 28, including psychosocial care to prevent them being stigmatised for having undergone the procedure.

A report by the UN children agency, UNICEF, last year estimated that more than 230 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation -- 30 million more than in 2016.

In Ivory Coast, one woman in three is a victim of FGM.

The practice is internationally recognised as a human rights violation.

Abramowicz said her happy and proud former patients have since been sending her "10 photos a day" of their reconstructed genitals.

"The value of this mission is that it has planted seeds among healthcare workers but also among these women," she said.

"They should become advocates. There's something militant about getting repaired. The fight begins like that."

A.Saggese--PV