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Female genital mutilation, also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence against women. When performed on girls under the age of 18 years, FGM is child abuse.
Healthcare practitioners should be vigilant to the possibility of FGM both within the UK and for girls who may travel abroad to have the procedure carried out.
To learn more about FGM, access the new FGM pages on Travax which include information and advice on:
Health Protection Scotland would like to thank and acknowledge Professor Hazel Barrett, who has provided the information for the new Travax and fitfortravel pages on FGM.
The FGM logo is reproduced with permission of and acknowledgement to WHO.
BA(Hons), MA, PhD, CGeog. Executive Director of Centre for Communities and Social Justice, Coventry University.
Hazel is a social scientist who undertook her undergraduate degree in the School of African and Asian Studies her MA and PhD in West African Studies. Hazel has worked at Coventry University since 1992 and in 2006 she was conferred a Chair in Development Geography. She is currently Executive Director of the Centre of Society and Social Justice.
Her main areas of research are the socioeconomic aspects of development, in particular gender, health and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last decade her research has been directed at the social and economic aspects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and The Gambia as well as amongst migrant groups in the UK. More recently her research has focussed on the traditional harmful practice of FGM in Africa and amongst the African diaspora in the EU.
She leads the EU Daphne III funded multi-disciplinary REPLACE2 research project: She is an internationally recognised expert on FGM. She has published books and chapters on health and development issues and has over 50 refereed articles to her name.
