Ending Female Genital Mutilation: The Case for Data
Last week, I was invited to attend a training for the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C (female genital mutilation/cutting). Many of you may not be familiar with the topic, but it is a reality impacting North African and Arab Region countries at an alarming rate. Without getting graphic, the practice is performed as a mechanism to control female sexuality. It is also used as a way to marry off young girls. This is why the practice can be so directly linked with the issue of child marriage in many of the same countries that the practice is performed. I would urge you to familiarize yourself with it because no matter how gruesome, it is happening every day to girls around the world! Here in Egypt, there is a 92.3% prevalence of the practiced performed on women aged 15-49! Even crazier is that 82% of cases are being performed by medical physicians. The practice of medicalizing FGM came about after extremely high numbers of girls dying during the circumcision because midwives, local h
