Week of action launched to tackle female genital mutilation

The government has launched a dedicated female genital mutilation (FGM) prevention week to raise awareness of this harmful and illegal practice.

Commencing yesterday (February 8th), the action week aims to improve education on this important issue among health and care professionals, who play a key role in helping to prevent it from occurring.

Running until February 12th, each day of the action week will be dedicated to a different issue, including mandatory reporting, communities and survivors, training, and mental health.

This week aims to involve health and social care professionals, members of FGM-practising communities or FGM survivors, with an #endFGM hashtag circulating on Twitter to encourage conversations about the issue.

It is one of a number of steps taken by the government to address this problem, including the introduction of guidance on how to protect those who have already undergone FGM and legislation setting out a duty of when to report cases of FGM in children to the police.

Public health minister Jane Ellison said: "FGM Prevention Week is an opportunity for everybody to use this knowledge and guidance and take positive action to end FGM. We want to end FGM in a generation in the UK."