Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practices of female genital  mutilation and cutting  
(FGM/C) among United Arab Emirates population  
 
Version: 0 Date: 06 Jul 2019  
 
Reviewer: Nazar Shabila  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
This is an interesting study about FGM/C in UAE. Indeed, it is very important to have research 
on FGM/C from UAE since this issue is limitedly studies.  
 
The manuscript contains a lot of interesting and important findings and data. It is important to 
have such knowledge in the literatu re since very little is known about FGM/C in UAE and gulf 
countries. However, there are a number of concerns, primarily about the methodology of this 
study;  
 
Introduction  
No information is provided in the introduction section about the UAE context and the problem of 
FGM/C in UAE and no previous literature are cited regarding its prevalence, legal prohibition, 
etc.  
For example, is FGM/C an already known problem in UAE, or it is present but hidden  
It is also important to mention something about the structur e of the UAE population.  
No justification is provided in the introduction section about the justification for doing this study 
in UAE.  
 
Methods  
Some important methodological concerns that are important limitations of the study;  
It is not clear why Al -Ain c ity was selected for this study, and why these 3 locations were 
specifically selected (Al -Ain hospital, Fatima college and United Arab Emirates University).  
How selecting participants with health and medical background (students and staff from health 
sciences college) might affect your results (the actual prevalence in the city and the knowledge)?  
How selecting two types of participants haphazardly (students and staff vs. patients) will affect 
your findings? Using two types of participants greatly limit t he generalizability of the study 
findings.  
Using two types of questionnaire administration (Paper based through face to face and online self 
completed) for this sensitive issue in this context where there is social restrain and cultural 
barriers again limi t the validity of the results.  
It is not clear how the participants were selected, but I can see that they were not randomly 
selected. This also limits the generalizability of the findings. In all cases, it is important to 
provide details about how the par ticipants were selected.  
While it is clear that the students and staff from Fatima College are in the health sciences 
specialty, it is not clear the field of the alumni from United Arab Emirates University.  
These concerns about representativeness of the selected participants limit the benefits of using 
statistical significant tests and generalizing the findings.  
All the analysis were based on Chi square test. It is important to use logistic regression to adj ust 
for confounding effects.  
 
The response rate is not clear, please report it.  
 
Please re -write the conclusion section. The current conclusion only contain a number of findings 
from the results section.  
 
It is very important to emphasize on the legisla tions prohibiting FGM/C. Is there one in UAE and 
is it enforced? If not, what can be done?  
 
It is important to discuss medicalization of FGM/C since its practice by health professionals is 
very high as shown in this study.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and w ell described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional s tatistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
 
 
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain  or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose  
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the fut ure? 
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds  or has applied for patents relating to the content of  the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included  
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is acce pted for publication, my named report  
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors'  
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons  
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons .org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments  
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments  
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal