Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC) and female circumcision (FC), is defined by the World Health Organization(WHO)as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

FGM is typically carried out between four years old and puberty, although it may be conducted on younger infants and adults.

It may take place in a hospital, but is usually performed without anaesthesia by a traditional circumciser using a knife, razor or scissors

It is practiced mainly in 28 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, particularly Egypt and Ethiopia, and in parts of Asia and the Middle East

The WHO estimates that 140 million women and girls around the world have experienced it, including 101 million in Africa.

The WHO offers four classifications of FGM -

Type I usually refers to removal of the Clitoris and Clitoral hood

Type II is removal of the clitoris and inner labia

Type III involves the removal of all or part of the inner and outer labia and usually the clitoris, and the fusion of the wound; a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood, and the wound is opened for intercourse and childbirth and is the most common procedure in Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan, and in parts of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Mali

Type IV refers to miscellaneous procedures such as symbolic piercing of the clitoris or labia, cauterization of the clitoris, and cutting into the vagina to widen it

Around 85 % of women who undergo FGM experience Types I and II.


The health consequences of FGM can include-
recurrent urinary and vaginal infections, chronic pain, infertility, fatal hemorrhaging,epidermoid cysts and complications during childbirth

Non-practicing countries

 

In USA,performing the procedure on anyone under the age of 18 became illegal the following year with the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act

In UK,the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act,1985 outlawed the procedure in Britain itself, and the Female Genital Mutilation Act,2003 and Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation(Scotland)Act 2005 made it an offence for FGM to be performed anywhere in the world on British citizens or permanent residents 

 More than 125 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of female genital mutilation in 29 countries across Africa and the Middle East, according to the report of U.N children's agency UNICEF

As many as 30 million girls are at risk of being cut over the next decade if current trends persist," said Geeta Rao Gupta, deputy executive director of UNICEF

There is some positive news in the new UNICEF report, with data on trends revealing that the practice is becoming less common in more than half of the 29 countries where it is concentrated.