{"id":14081,"date":"2024-05-12T22:37:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T22:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=14081"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:47:15","slug":"fgm-is-on-the-rise-in-africa-disturbing-new-trends-are-driving-up-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2024\/05\/12\/fgm-is-on-the-rise-in-africa-disturbing-new-trends-are-driving-up-the-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"FGM is on the rise in Africa: disturbing new trends are driving up the numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/strong>Tamsin Bradley<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Thirteen-year-old Salamatu Jalloh had her whole future to look forward to. But in January 2023, her lifeless body was found wrapped in a pink and blue shroud on an earthen floor in a village in north-west Sierra Leone.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Salamatu and two other girls bled to death after participating in a secret\u00a0Bondo\u00a0society initiation into womanhood. The ceremony, which lasts for several weeks, began with a sense of excitement and anticipation \u2013 a rare occasion in this rural community to celebrate girls. But at its core was a violent act: the cutting and removal of the girls\u2019 external genitalia.<\/p>\n

Their tragic deaths were highlighted in the latest Unicef report on female genital mutilation. According to the UN agency 230 million girls and women alive today have survived Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), but live with the devastating consequences.<\/p>\n

Most procedures happen in African countries, accounting for\u00a0144 million\u00a0cases.<\/p>\n

Despite campaigns to end this practice there are\u00a030 million\u00a0more women and girls globally who have undergone this form of torture than eight years ago.<\/p>\n

As an applied social anthropologist who has researched women and violence for many years I\u2019ve been\u00a0studying\u00a0this form of abuse, and the reasons it persists, for over two decades. Some countries are making strides in reducing the practice. In others, advancements have stalled or even been reversed due to changing ideologies as well as the fallout from instability and conflict.<\/p>\n

Unicef calculates the rate of decline would need to be\u00a027 times faster\u00a0to eliminate this abuse by 2030.<\/p>\n

Understanding the trends is the starting point for ending female genital mutilation. Some of the new trends are alarming. They include a backlash by conservatives against efforts to stop female genital mutilation; increasing numbers of \u201csecret procedures\u201d which are difficult to keep track of; and shifts towards what are termed \u201cless severe\u201d forms. Increased \u201cmedicalisation\u201d of the procedure by health care professionals is another disturbing trend.<\/p>\n

Reasons given for FGM<\/strong><\/p>\n

The types of cutting vary. In its most severe form,\u00a0infibulation, the cut edges of the labia are sewn together to achieve a smoothness considered to be beautiful. The vagina must be reopened for sexual intercourse or childbirth.<\/p>\n

Every year, over\u00a0half a million\u00a0girls globally undergo this extreme form of vaginal mutilation.<\/p>\n

Most of those who support female genital mutilation\u00a0believe\u00a0it maintains cleanliness, increases a girl\u2019s chances of marriage, protects her virginity and discourages \u201cfemale promiscuity\u201d, thus preserving the family honour. They also believe it improves fertility and prevents stillbirths.Most supporters of the practice do so for religious or cultural reasons.<\/p>\n

In fact female genital mutilation has no health benefits, and it\u00a0harms\u00a0girls and women in many ways. It carries the risk of immediate complications like shock, haemorrhage, tetanus, sepsis, urine retention, ulceration of the genital region and injury to adjacent genital tissue. Long-term consequences include increased risk of maternal morbidity, recurrent bladder and urinary tract infection, cysts, infertility and adverse psychological and sexual consequences.<\/p>\n

FGM in African countries<\/strong><\/p>\n

Countries with the\u00a0highest levels\u00a0of female genital mutilation are Somalia (99%), Guinea (95%) and Djibouti (90%).<\/p>\n

In Kenya, over the last half century a remarkable transformation has occurred. Female genital mutilation was once widespread, but most of the country has now abandoned the practice.<\/p>\n

Yet among the Somali community, concentrated in the north-eastern province of Kenya, there has been little change, and the practice remains nearly universal.<\/p>\n

Somalia and Sudan face the challenge of addressing widespread female genital mutilation amid conflict and population growth.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia has\u00a0consistently made progress, but climate shocks, disease and food insecurity make it harder to maintain these successes.<\/p>\n

The fragility of progress cannot be overstated.<\/p>\n

Conservative backlashes and compliant doctors<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some alarming trends that make eliminating this practice even more difficult.<\/p>\n