FGM victims need support every hour, charity warns

Plan International UK has highlighted that a case of female genital mutilation (FGM) is either discovered or treated at a medical appointment in England every hour.

The charity analysed NHS figures between April 2015 and March 2016, and cited 8,656 occasions when a girl or woman was assessed at a doctor's surgery or hospital for FGM in 2016. Among those who attended a new case of FGM was recorded every 92 minutes on average.

FGM is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’.

Avon and Somerset Police has led the national use of FGM protection orders (FGMPO), which are brought in to protect potential victims and has applied for 10 FGMPOs since the legislation was brought in in July 2015.

Detective chief inspector Leanne Pook said: "Each application is carefully considered and brought only in cases where they are deemed to be at risk. We have one active FGM investigation ongoing at the moment, but the majority of our work in this area focuses on safeguarding referrals.

"This means working in partnership with our colleagues in local authorities, health and education to share information and visit and support families with children deemed to be at risk of FGM."

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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