The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday called for a code of conduct to prohibit health workers from carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM), as it issued new guidelines aimed at ending the harmful practice.
The UN health agency stressed the crucial role medical professionals can play in detecting FGM and supporting survivors. However, it warned that in some regions, health workers themselves are often asked to perform the procedure, rather than it being carried out by local communities.
“Female genital mutilation is a severe violation of girls’ rights and critically endangers their health,” said Pascale Allotey, WHO’s director of sexual and reproductive health and research. “Health workers must be agents for change rather than perpetrators of this harmful practice and must also provide high-quality medical care for those suffering its effects,” she added.
FGM involves the partial or total removal of female external genitalia or other injuries to female genital organs. The procedure can cause serious health complications, including infections, infertility, severe bleeding, and childbirth difficulties.
According to UN Women, an estimated 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, often before puberty. Despite decades of advocacy against the practice, it remains common in around 30 countries, with about four million girls at risk each year.
WHO warned that the growing medicalisation of FGM risked “unintentionally legitimising the practice,” potentially undermining global efforts to eradicate it.
The new WHO guidelines call for professional codes of conduct that explicitly ban health workers from performing FGM. They also emphasize the importance of training medical staff to advocate against the practice.
“Research shows that health workers can be influential opinion leaders in changing attitudes on FGM,” said Christina Pallitto, a WHO scientist who led the development of the guidelines. “Engaging doctors, nurses, and midwives should be a key element in FGM prevention and response.”
In addition to prevention measures, the guidelines offer clinical recommendations to ensure that survivors receive empathetic and high-quality care. WHO underlined that survivors may need a wide range of services throughout their lives, from mental health support to management of obstetric risks and, where appropriate, surgical repairs.
