Exploring attitudes of Professionals to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in America -January 2014.

In January 2014 I journeyed to America to explore Female Genital Mutilation, I  wanted to see for myself what was being done in America to facilitate attitudinal change and support towards children who might be at risk of FGM. As well as services provided to survivors of FGM. The purpose of this research was to enable me to share my findings with professionals in Britain.

It was an exciting experience and a learning curve. I was especially interested in the patterns of immigration into the US and the ways in which these relatively new cultures were being acknowledged and integrated into the mainstream as regards FGM.  In particular I wished to examine the proposals of the American Paediatricians with regard to bending to cultural norms.

Rising immigration and asylum seeking in the UK means that many women who have been victims of FGM are now living in the United Kingdom and this has far reaching implications.

Compare to the United States has more than 1.5 million immigrants from countries in Africa and the Middle East where FGM is known to occur. Often, FGM occurs in infancy and childhood in the countries where it is practiced, but patients of any age can present with complications. Lack of understanding of this common problem can potentially alienate and lower quality of care for this patient population.

A study by FORWARD in 2007, funded by the Department of Health estimated that “66,000 women with FGM are living in England and Wales and that there are nearly 16,000 girls under the age of 15 at high risk of WHO Type III FGM and over 5,000 at high risk of WHO Type I or Type II”

The impact of FGM will therefore touch many services within the UK; schools, healthcare, social services, police and any other services that come into contact with families, and especially the children, of people from countries where FGM is practiced.

The UK is one of many western countries that have made the practice of FGM illegal (Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985) and since 2003 it is also illegal for a British national to take a child back to their home country for the procedure (The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003).