The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that at least 4.5 million girls could be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2026.
The agency also reports that about 230 million girls and women worldwide have already undergone the practice.
FGM, which involves the alteration or injury of female genital organs for non-medical reasons, is internationally condemned as a violation of human rights.
When the procedure is performed by a health professional, it is often referred to as “medicalised” FGM. However, UNFPA stressed that even in clinical settings with sterilised equipment, the practice is unsafe, unnecessary, and has no medical justification.
Although FGM is a global issue documented in 94 countries across all continents, UNFPA lamented that millions of girls and women continue to suffer severe, long-term, and sometimes life-threatening physical and psychological consequences despite ongoing eradication efforts.
One factor sustaining the practice is the mistaken belief that campaigns to end FGM are driven by foreign influence. Challenging this narrative ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed annually on February 6, the UN agency said it is working to dispel the myth.
Available data from roughly one-third of countries where FGM is practised show a decline over the past 30 years, with the proportion of affected girls dropping from one in two to one in three. Across the world, two thirds of men and women want female genital mutilation to end.
“To protect these girls, we all must invest to meet the target of ending the harmful practice by 2030, by forming wider partnerships and implementing cost-effective interventions that challenge the social norms that perpetuate it.
“Governments, donors, the private sector, communities, grassroots organisations, girls, women, boys and men all have a role to play as agents of change to ensure that girls grow up free from female genital mutilation” the UNFPA said.
In some countries, education is increasingly being used as a prevention tool, with schools incorporating lessons on bodily autonomy, health, and the dangers of such harmful practices.
According to UNFPA, Africa bears the largest burden of female genital mutilation.
In Ethiopia, three quarters of women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone some form of FGM.
However, in many countries where female genital mutilation is deeply entrenched, new legislation is slowly turning the tide.