Medicalisation of female genital mutilation ‘not defensible’
UNICEF official says health professionals could be hampering eradication of the practice
Female genital mutilation (FGM) carried out by health professionals is “not safe, moral or defensible,” according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
Executive director Henrietta Fore said “medicalisation” of the procedure was hampering global efforts to end the practice by the UN’s target date of 2030.
About a quarter of girls and women who have undergone FGM are cut by a doctor, midwife or other health worker, as opposed to a traditional circumciser, according to UNICEF.
“Doctor-sanctioned mutilation is still mutilation. Trained healthcare professionals who perform FGM violate girls’ fundamental rights, physical integrity and health,” Ms Fore said.
