6 February 2017: WHO joins individuals and organizations worldwide in marking the International day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation (FGM). Over 200 million girls and women living worldwide have experienced this harmful practice, and this important event aims to raise awareness of this global problem. On this occasion, a special supplement has been published in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (IJGO). The co-authors note that while work to prevent FGM is of key importance, there is an urgent need to reach and support women and girls who have experienced FGM with high-quality healthcare.

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16 May 2016 - Health-care providers across the world need to be prepared to provide care to girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). New guidelines have been launched by WHO to help health-care providers give better care to the more than 200 million girls and women worldwide who live with FGM.

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• Access the new guidelines

16 May 2016 - Health workers often face difficult decisions and tough situations. Without the right information and support it can be hard to know what’s the right thing to do. A health-care worker might even be asked – by the patients themselves, or by their family – to perform a procedure which violates human rights and the rights of the child. This is the case when health workers are asked to perform female genital mutilation (FGM), which we refer to as “medicalization” of the practice.

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  Ian Askew, WHO Director, Department of Reproductive Health and Research

Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. In many settings, health care providers perform FGM in the erroneous belief that the procedure is safer when medicalized. WHO and other UN partners strongly urge health professionals not to perform such procedures.

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