Female genital mutilation: The prevention and the management of health complications
Policy guidelines for nurses and midwives
OVERVIEW
An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women in the world today have undergone some form of female genital mutilation (FGM), and 2 million girls are at risk from the practice each year. The complications of FGM – physical, psychological and sexual – require skilled and sensitive management by health care workers. These policy guidelines target policy-makers and those directing the working practices of nurses, midwives and other frontline health-care providers. They aim to: promote and strengthen the case against the medicalization of FGM; support and protect nurses, midwives and other health personnel in adhering to WHO guidelines not to close an opened up infibulation; empower nurses and midwives to carry out functions in relation to FGM which are outside their current legal scope of practice; and encourage appropriate documentation of FGM in clinical records and health information system.