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New FGM Study Finds Its Leading Cause of Death in Women, Girls

Female Genital Mutilation causes about 44,000 deaths each year in more than a dozen countries. This is the grim revelation from a new report cited in The Conversation Africa by Heather D. Flowe.

The study shows that FGM is the leading cause of death for young girls and women in places where it is practiced. Although illegal in many countries, the harmful traditional practice is still carried out in at least 25 nations across the continent, leading to death in some instances from severe bleeding, infection, and shock.

"This makes it a more significant cause of death in the countries studied than any other excluding infection, malaria, and respiratory infections or tuberculosis".

InFocus

Samuel Okiror / UNFPA Uganda

Officials speak with girls at a primary school serving as a safe haven for those fleeing female genital mutilation, child marriage, or both (file photo).

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