By Chantelle Muzanenhamo
The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a new set of recommendations aimed at tackling the alarming increase in “medicalized” female genital mutilation (FGM), where health professionals are increasingly performing the harmful procedure. This shift threatens to undermine decades of efforts to eliminate FGM entirely, prompting urgent calls for coordinated action.
Recent data indicates that, as of 2020, an estimated 52 million women and girls have undergone FGM performed by health workers around 25% of all cases worldwide. WHO officials warn that this trend not only heightens health risks but also risks normalizing the practice, making it harder to eradicate.
The new guideline, titled The prevention of female genital mutilation and clinical management of complications, emphasizes the critical need for governments, health systems, and communities to address this issue head-on. It provides concrete strategies for preventing the practice, including banning health workers from performing FGM and training medical staff to serve as advocates against it.
“Performing FGM in healthcare settings is unacceptable and dangerous.
Health professionals must be part of the solution, not the cause, by refusing to perform FGM and instead promoting awareness and respect for girls’ rights,” read part of the statement on WHO’s official Website.
The WHO highlights that FGM is a violation of human rights, often carried out on young girls before puberty, and causes long-lasting physical and psychological harm. The practice’s medicalization can give a false impression of safety, complicating efforts to end it entirely.
In addition to prevention, the WHO’s new recommendations focus on improving healthcare for FGM survivors. This includes providing mental health support, managing obstetric complications, and offering surgical options when needed. The organization stresses that comprehensive care is essential for helping women and girls recover and rebuild their lives.
WHO encourages education campaigns involving men and boys to challenge social norms that perpetuate FGM, and to foster greater awareness of its harms and the importance of protecting girls’ rights.
While some countries, such as Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia, have made significant progress—reducing FGM prevalence among young women by up to 50%—the practice persists in about 30 countries, with millions of girls still at risk each year.
WHO’s new guidelines aim to turn the tide on the rising trend of medicalized FGM, emphasizing that ending the practice requires a collective effort—combining legal measures, community education, health sector reform, and survivor support—to finally eliminate FGM once and for all.