The father of a 10-year-old girl who died after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia has defended the practice.<\/p>\n
Dahir Nur’s daughter died of blood loss on 17 July, two days after being taken to a traditional circumciser.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0he told Voice of America (VOA) “people in the area are content” with FGM<\/a>even considering the dangers, adding it is the country’s “culture”.<\/p>\n According to Unicef, 98% of girls and women in Somalia have undergone FGM.<\/p>\n This is despite Somalia’s constitution prohibiting – although not outlawing – the practice, which involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons and can cause profound health problems.<\/p>\n Dr Abdirahman Omar Hassan, director of Hanano hospital in the city of Dhusamareb, told VoA he had never seen “anyone who was mutilated like that in my life”.<\/p>\n Dr Hassan, who was on the team who tried to save the girl, also revealed she had caught tetanus, most likely from the unsterilised equipment used during the original procedure.<\/p>\n\n