Joint statement by the UNFPA Executive Director, UNICEF Executive Director, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Women Executive Director, WHO Director-General, and UNESCO Director-General on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
In 2026 alone, an estimated 4.5 million girls – many under the age of five – are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM). Currently, more than 230 million girls and women are living with its lifelong consequences.
Female genital mutilation is a violation of human rights and cannot be justified on any grounds. It compromises girls’ and women’s physical and mental health and can lead to serious, lifelong complications, with treatment costs estimated at about US$ 1.4 billion every year.
We know what works. Health education, engaging religious and community leaders, parents and health workers and the use of traditional and social media are effective strategies to end the practice. We must invest in community-led movements – including grassroots and youth networks – and strengthen education through both formal and community-based approaches. We need to amplify prevention messages by involving trusted opinion leaders, including health workers. And we must support survivors by ensuring they have access to comprehensive, context-tailored health care, psychosocial support, and legal assistance.
As we approach 2030, gains achieved over decades are at risk as global investment and support wane. Funding cuts and declining international investment in health, education, and child protection programmes are already constraining efforts to prevent female genital mutilation and support survivors. Further, the growing systematic pushback on efforts to end female genital mutilation, compounded by dangerous arguments that it is acceptable when carried out by doctors or health workers, adds more hurdles to elimination efforts. Without adequate and predictable financing, community outreach programmes risk being scaled back, frontline services weakened, and progress reversed – placing millions more girls at risk at a critical moment in the push to meet the 2030 target.
Hence then, the article about over four million girls still at risk of female genital mutilation un leaders call for sustained commitment and investment to end fgm was published today ( ) and is available on World Health Organization ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Over four million girls still at risk of female genital mutilation: UN leaders call for sustained commitment and investment to end FGM )
Also on site :