https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1758
' FGM kills 44 000 girls each year according to recent research, which analysed 15 African countries.1 This means that FGM is a bigger cause of death than malnutrition, measles, meningitis, HIV/Aids, and many other health threats for girls in the 15 countries studied.1 Yet, no major foundation prioritises funding to end FGM'
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'We know that over three quarters of the FGM that is happening in Egypt or Sudan is carried out by medical professionals and the medicalisation trend is getting worse.4
This “medicalisation” of FGM is a dangerous trend because it can give the false impression that this violence can somehow be performed in a “safer” way.56 Medicalising FGM does not reduce the harm, it legitimises it. FGM is an act of torture that cannot be made safe no matter who performs it or in what setting it is performed.