ABSTRACT
Each year, as many as 300,000 girls undergo a procedure known as ‘infibulation’; the World Health Organization calls it ‘type III’ genital cutting. 1 Extensive tissue is removed from their genitalia and the labia are stitched together so that after the procedure, nothing remains except a small opening for urine and menstrual blood. In many cases, infibulation is performed by a village midwife, with no anesthesia. There are no known health benefits of this procedure, but it can lead to bacterial infection, open sores, recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, and increased risk of transmission of HIV. It also substantially raises the risks involved in childbirth: a 2006 study by the WHO found that infibulation raises the risk of the death of a child in pregnancy by 55 percent, raises the risk of cesarean section by 31 percent, and is associated with a 69 percent increase in the risk of postpartum hemorrhage, compared to women who have not undergone any genital cutting procedure. 2 Infants also need to be resuscitated in childbirth 66 percent more often, and their birth weight is on average 9 percent lower. 3
