Bureau for Global Health Strategy for Female Genital Cutting (FGC), (FY 2004 - Fy 2006)

摘要

Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is the name given to traditional practices that involve the partial or total cutting away of the female external genitalia and/or other injury to the female genitals, whether for cultural or non-therapeutic reasons. USAID's policy, effective September 1, 2000, recognizes FGC as a harmful traditional practice that violates the health and human rights of women and hinders development. USAID opposes any practice or support for FGC and works toward the goal of total abandonment. Under no circumstances does USAID support the practice of FGC by medical personnel. FGC violates a young girls right to reproductive health, and gravely harms her physical and mental health. The type of genital cutting a woman experiences influences the likelihood that she will have negative complicationsthe more severe the cut, the more serious the consequences. Above all, FGC is a cultural practice, and efforts toward abandonment require understanding and changing the beliefs and perceptions within the community that have sustained the practice over the centuries. An estimated 135 million women and girls worldwide have undergone FGC, and two million women and girls a year are at risk of being cutnearly 6,000 per day (WHO, 2000).