WUNRN
UN
World Health Organization-WHO - Sixty-First World Health Assembly
|
19-24 May 2008
Geneva, Switzerland
The 61st session of the World Health Assembly is taking place in Geneva during 19-24 May 2008. At this session, the Health Assembly is discussing a number of public health issues, including:
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Fact sheet N°241
May 2008
Female Genital Mutilation
Female
genital mutilation (FGM) comprises 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.
The practice
is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central
roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. Increasingly, however, FGM
is being performed by medically trained personnel.
FGM is
recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and
women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an
extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out
on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also
violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the
right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and
the right to life when the procedure results in death.
Female
genital mutilation is classified into four major types:
Read more about types of procedures [pdf 3.35Mb]
FGM has no
health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves
removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes
with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies.
Immediate
complications can include severe pain, shock, haemorrhage (bleeding), tetanus
or sepsis (bacterial infection), urine retention, open sores in the genital
region and injury to nearby genital tissue.
Long-term
consequences can include:
Procedures
are mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15, and
occasionally on adult women. In Africa, about three million girls are at risk
for FGM annually.
Between 100
to 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the consequences of
FGM. In Africa, about 92 million girls age 10 years and above are estimated to
have undergone FGM.
The practice
is most common in the western, eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa, in
some countries in Asia and the Middle East, and among certain immigrant
communities in North America and Europe.
The causes
of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social
factors within families and communities.
In 1997, the
World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint statement with the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
against the practice of FGM. A new statement, with wider United Nations support,
was then issued in February 2008 to support increased advocacy for the
abandonment of FGM.
The 2008
statement documents new evidence collected over the past decade about the
practice. It highlights the increased recognition of the human rights and legal
dimensions of the problem and provides current data on the frequency and scope
of FGM. It also summarizes research about why FGM continues, how to stop it,
and its damaging effects on the health of women, girls and newborn babies.
Since 1997,
great efforts have been made to counteract FGM, through research, work within
communities, and changes in public policy. Progress at both international and
local levels includes:
Research
shows that, if practising communities themselves decide to abandon FGM, the
practice can be eliminated very rapidly.
WHO efforts
to eliminate female genital mutilation focus on:
WHO is
particularly concerned about the increasing trend for medically trained personnel
to perform FGM. WHO strongly urges health professionals not to perform such
procedures.
WHO Media
centre
Telephone: +41 22 791 2222
Email: mediainquiries@who.int
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