Let us join hands and fight FGM, it's still a big threat to girls and women

Rev Fr Joseph Mutie Chair, Inter Religious Council of Kenya displays Anti-FGM message placard during inter religious Anti FGM Festival at the Church of Latter Saints, Upper Hill Nairobi on September 9, 2023. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Recent findings by researchers from Universities of Birmingham and Exeter published by Nature Scientific Reports indicates that Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the foremost cause of death in nations where it is practised, with over 44,000 additional women and young girls dying annually.

The researchers established that a 50 per cent increase in the number of girls undergoing FGM, increases their five-year mortality rate and causes an estimated 44,320 excess deaths annually across nations where the practise takes place.