Doctors in the Black Country are recording an average of nearly 12 cases of female genital mutilation every month.
Between April and June this year, 35 cases of female genital mutilation were newly recorded by doctors in our area, latest figures from NHS Digital reveal.
This does not necessarily mean that the woman or girl suffered from FGM recently – just that they appeared in the database for the first time.
In total, 35 women and girls in our area were either identified as having undergone the practice, or had a procedure relating to FGM during over this period.
In most cases, the age that the FGM had been carried out was not reported.
However, where the age was given, most of the victims had been between five and nine years old when they had FGM performed on them – around 15 cases
In around 10 cases the victim was aged between one and four years old, while around 10 were under the age of one and a further 10 were aged
10-14. The figures are rounded to the nearest five, however, so it’s impossible to give an exact number.
Most of the women and girls were born in and underwent FGM in Eastern Africa.
FGM refers to procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Female genital mutilation has been illegal in the UK since 1985, with the law being strengthened in 2003 to prevent girls traveling from the UK and undergoing FGM abroad.
Across England as a whole, 1,675 women and girls attended medical appointments between April and June where FGM was either identified or
being treated.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/scandal-female-genital-mutilation-black-15213416
