Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Who is at risk?
FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and adolescence, and occasionally on adult women.
More than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk for FGM annually.
More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice, according to data from 30 countries where population data exist.
The practice is mainly concentrated in the Western, Eastern, and North-Eastern regions of Africa.
The reasons why female genital mutilations are performed vary from one region to another.
Some financial burden of FGM:
WHO has conducted a study of the economic costs of treating health complications of FGM:
It has found that the current costs for 27 countries where data were available totaled 1.4 billion USD during a one-year period (2018)
This amount is expected to rise to 2.3 billion in 30 years (2047) if FGM prevalence remains the same – corresponding to a 68% increase in the costs of inaction
However, if countries abandon FGM, these costs would decrease by 60% over the next 30 years
Credit: WHO