Midwives on the frontlines of fighting maternal death in Somalia
Maymuum's mother died giving birth. Today, newly graduated midwife Maymuun provides lifesaving care to other pregnant women and newborns in Somalia.
UNFPA and The Guardian present the first pan-African award for reporting on female genital mutilation
“My father forced me to get married to an older man almost his age. The old man gave him 20 cows. I tried to run away from that old man, but my father warned me that he would beat me to death if he was forced to return the cows he was given as payment for dowry,” says an unnamed thirteen year-old girl, her face unseen, as she relays how she was forced to marry shortly after she suffered female genital mutilation (FGM) at age 10, in a short film made by Kenyan journalist Diana Kendi.
A silent epidemic: The fight to end female genital mutilation in Colombia
“When I was 9 years old, my mother told me that three of her sisters died because her grandmother practiced female genital mutilation (FGM),” says Patricia Tobon Yagarí, an Emberá indigenous lawyer from Colombia.
Changing the dialogue: Speaking out against female genital mutilation in Indonesia
“There really is no religious postulate for female circumcision, neither from the Al Quran nor from the prophet’s sayings,” said Indonesia’s former First Lady Sinta Nuriyah Wahid’s, as she explained to the attendees of a UNFPA seminar on FGM in Jakarta why none of her four daughters – or six granddaughters – have been subjected to the procedure.
“Never, ever” again – a former circumciser calls for an end to FGM
Asiya Hamed spent much of her life performing female genital mutilation (FGM) on girls in her community. She cannot remember how many girls she has cut, but she knows what the consequences have been.