The key facts and consequences you should know about Female Genital Mutilation A general guide for learning providers

1. FGM SAFEGUARDING
The facts you should know about Female Genital
Mutilation
A general guide for learning providers

2. KEY FACTS
1. Half of girls and women cut live in just three countries as Unicef
statistics reveal shocking global scale of barbaric ritual
2. About 44 million victims of FGM around the world are aged 14 or
younger; nearly 70 million more girls and women than estimated in 2014
3. UNICEF has estimated that more than 125 million girls and women
globally have undergone FGM and that 3 million girls in Africa are at risk
each year.
4. Statistics showed women in Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia account for
half of all FGM victims worldwide

3. PERCENTAGE OF GIRLS AND WOMEN AGED 15 TO 49 WHO
HAVE UNDERGONE FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING,
2004 TO 2015. TOP 10 COUNTRIES
75%
76%
83%
87%
87%
89%
90%
93%
97%
98%
Gambia
Burkina Faso
Eritrea
Sudan
Egypt
Mali
Sierra Leone
Djibouti
Guinea
Somalia

4. FGM PRACTISING COUNTRY GROUPS
Almost universal FGM, over 30% FGM,
WHO Type III
Sudan (north), Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti
High national prevalence of FGM, WHO
Types I and II
Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, Burkina Faso,
Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone
Moderate national prevalence of FGM,
WHO Types I and II
Central African Republic, Chad, Cote
d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Iraq (Kurdistan),
Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria,
Senegal, Yemen
Low national prevalence of FGM, WHO
Types I and II
Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Niger,
(Democratic Republic of Congo), United
Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda

5. KEY FACT
5. In Guinea, where 97% of girls aged 15 to 49 are FGM victims despite the
practice being outlawed, Unicef staff have described seeing girls taken
away from their families against their will to be cut, on the orders of
village authorities.
“Two days after this Christian community celebrated Christmas in a
village. . . One five-year-old died from her wounds bleeding to
death before she could receive medical treatment”
This is not a act based on religion. It is engrained in community culture

6. AND THE UK
•In England, the government’s health statistics body found 2,421 mutilation
cases were reported to health authorities between April 2015 and September
2015. Campaign group Equality Now have called the numbers “the tip of
the iceberg”
•It estimated about 137,000 women and girls in England and Wales have been
cut

7. CONSEQUENCES

8. IMMEDIATE COMPLICATIONS
•include severe pain,
•shock,
•haemorrhage,
•tetanus or infection,
•urine retention,
•ulceration of the genital region and injury to adjacent tissue,
•wound infection,
•urinary infection,
•fever, and septicemia.
Haemorrhage and infection can be severe enough to cause death.

9. LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES INCLUDE
•complications during childbirth,
•anaemia,
•the formation of cysts and abscesses,
•keloid scar formation,
•damage to the urethra resulting in urinary incontinence,
•dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse),
•sexual dysfunction,
•hypersensitivity of the genital area and
•increased risk of HIV transmission, as well as psychological effects.
•Infibulation, or type III FGM, may cause complete vaginal obstruction
resulting in the accumulation of menstrual flow in the vagina and uterus.
Infibulation creates a physical barrier to sexual intercourse and childbirth.

10. A NEW CASE OF FGM IS REPORTED IN THE UK EVERY 109 SECONDS
This means whilst you have read this presentation 5.5 more girls
have reported being mutilated