“The dangers that female genital mutilation and cutting create
for girls and women have been recognized by the government,
religious leaders, health professionals, community elders and
individual families in Sudan, and we applaud the collective
efforts now being taken to eradicate the practice entirely,”
noted UNICEF Acting Representative Dr. Iyabode Olusanmi. “It is
unacceptable that any girl should face this dangerous and
unnecessary violation of her rights,” she added. UNICEF
estimates that some 70 million girls and women in 27 countries
in Africa and the Middle East have undergone female genital
mutilation and cutting (FGM/C). The practice often results in
death and has a detrimental impact on the health and development
of those who do survive. In Sudan, estimates from the 2006 Sudan
Household Health Survey indicated that FGM/C affects about 69
per cent of girls and women. In 2008, Sudan’s Government of
National Unity endorsed a national strategy to abandon FGM/C
within a generation. Recent efforts have f