bet million casino

The UN set a target of eradicating FGM 4️⃣ by the end of this decade, and impressive advances have been made in some countries. But overall, progress has stalled 4️⃣ or reversed. In 2024, 200 million girls and women worldwide had undergone FGM. Since then, 30 million more women have 4️⃣ endured it. Most FGM cases – 144 million – have happened in Africa, with a reported 80 million in Asia 4️⃣ and 6 million in the Middle East. The rate of decrease has been slower than population growth in communities where 4️⃣ the practice persists, and Unicef says that girls are also being cut at a younger age, reducing the opportunities to 4️⃣ intervene.

In Sierra Leone – where FGM remains legal – three girls have died in 4️⃣ cutting ceremonies this year. There are no health benefits to the practice, which involves the partial or total removal of 4️⃣ the external female genitalia. All forms are associated with increased long- and short-term health risks. Alarmingly, MPs in the Gambia 4️⃣ initially approved an attempt to overturn a ban on FGM this summer. Almameh Gibba, the legislator responsible, said he wanted 4️⃣ to "uphold religious loyalty and safeguard cultural norms and values". The country would have been the first to reverse protective 4️⃣ legislation, setting an alarming precedent: it took determined activism by campaigners to see off the threat. According to UN estimates, 4️⃣ as many as three-quarters of Gambian women between 15 and 49 have undergone the practice. The rate in Sierra Leone 4️⃣ is believed to be even higher.

The growing concern is that FGM is increasingly being 4️⃣ medicalised in some places – performed by trained staff rather than traditional practitioners, with some communities apparently seeing this as 4️⃣ a safer way to continue the custom despite the risks that exist even in a hospital setting. The mistaken belief 4️⃣ that this is necessarily less severe, and prevents complications, may make parents more willing to go ahead. It is also 4️⃣ less visible, with families and staff often claiming that a girl is undergoing a different procedure. Training healthcare workers about 4️⃣ the damage it causes can help them not only to resist pressure to carry out FGM, and report it, but 4️⃣ to shift attitudes. One study found that clients of antenatal clinics with staff trained to prevent FGM were themselves less 4️⃣ supportive of the practice.

Men as well as women 4️⃣ need to be addressed and involved in anti-FGM activism. Promoting gender equality more broadly is essential, as is engaging with 4️⃣ traditional, political and religious leaders to raise awareness of the harms: even families who disapprove of the practice may still 4️⃣ subject their daughters to it for fear that they will otherwise be stigmatised. Such work is best led by local 4️⃣ campaigners with external support. Survivors also need help in dealing with psychological damage and accessing reconstructive surgery. While several European 4️⃣ countries have specialist clinics, the NHS does not provide it. Though prevention is the priority, those who have endured FGM 4️⃣ need support too.