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Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)Definition Despite more than 25 years of efforts to curtail its practice, female genital mutilation (FGM)—defined by WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other nontherapeutic reasons”—is still a deeply rooted tradition in more than 28 countries in Africa and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East.
In the world today there are an estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women who have been subjected to the operation. Currently, about 3 million girls, the majority under 15 years of age, undergo the procedure every year.
Photo: Somalia, Baidoa, women are discussing the end of FGM - Photo credit © WHO - Liba Taylor
6 February 2007 International Day against female genital mutilation
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RECENT STUDY Female Genital Mutilation and Obstetric Outcome: WHO collaborative prospective study in six African countries PROGRESS NEWSLETTER Contents: A factual overview of female genital mutilation New, solid evidence of obstetric problems after female genital mutilation HRP pinpoints research needed to halt female genital mutilation 8 pages (pdf 403 kb) |