1 Female Genital Mutilation in Rural Kurdistan-Iraq: A cross-sectional study 2 3 Running Head: Female Genital Mutilation in Kurdistan 4 5 6 Deldar Morad Abdulah1, Bewar Abdulaziz Sedo2, Angela Dawson3 7 8 1Master in Public Health (Australia); Assistant Lecturer, Adult Nursing Department, College 9 of Nursing, University of Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq; Email:
[email protected]; 10 Phone: +9647507443319 11 2 Master in Political Sciences (India); Assistant Lecturer, Department of Political Science, 12 College of Humanities, University of Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq; Email: 13
[email protected], Phone: +9647500195935 14 3 Ph.D. in Public Health (Australia); Professor, The Australian Centre for Public and 15 Population Health Research, Faculty of Health, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; 16 Email:
[email protected]; Phone: 0466819780 17 18 Corresponding Author: 19 Deldar Morad Abdulah 20 Adult Nursing Department 21 University of Duhok 22 Zakho Street 38 23 P.O. Box 78 24 1006 AJ Duhok 25 Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq 26 Email:
[email protected]; 27 Phone: +9647507443319 28 Abstract 29 Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of female genital 30 mutilation (FMG) and the attitudes of mothers, religious leaders (Mullahs), and community 31 leaders (Mokhtars) towards FMG, in rural areas of Iraqi Kurdistan. [35 words] 32 33 Methods: In a cross-sectional, double-randomized study of rural areas in Iraqi Kurdistan, we 34 used a semi-structured questionnaire to directly interview 1 657 mothers of 5 048 daughters, 35 as well as 192 Mullahs and 386 Mokhtars. We sought information from mothers that included 36 the level of their education, ages of their daughters, whether their daughters had experienced 37 FGM, and their attitudes about FGM.