A girl of seven was the youngest victim of female genital mutilation (FGM) treated by the NHS in the past two years, according to new data.

Some 1,700 women and girls were treated by specialist FGM clinics but this masks a bigger problem says the NSPCC. A UK-wide helpline to protect girls at risk of ritual cutting, practised by some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities, goes live on Monday. The victims “are hidden behind a wall of silence”, said Lisa Harker of NSPCC. The helpline is run by NSPCC child protection experts who have had training and advice from experts who work with women and girls who have undergone this form of ritual mutilation.

Extreme pain

The charity describes the practice as “illegal and life-threatening” and says that it results in extreme pain as well as physical and psychological problems that can continue into adulthood. Female genital mutilation, sometimes known as female circumcision has been illegal in the UK since 1985 – but still continues in secret, often carried out without anaesthetic. Some communities from parts of Africa and the Middle East, from both Muslim and Christian traditions, believe it is a necessary part of becoming a woman, that it reduces female sex drive and therefore the chances of sex outside marriage.

Sometimes girls are sent abroad to have it done. Sometimes it is done in the UK. It involves the partial or total removal of the female genital organs, sometimes only leaving a small hole for urination or menstruation. The NSPCC says that victims are usually aged between four and 10 but some are younger. Comfort Momoh, a midwife at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital in London, collated the figures from the specialist clinics.

She told BBC news that many women are not identified until they become pregnant and are examined by medical staff. Others suffer recurrent urinary tract infections and abdominal pain. “Many people are not aware they have had it done as it was carried out when they were babies.”

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23001119