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Repealing ban would mean return of ‘one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children’A team of UN experts has urged Gambian lawmakers not to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation, saying such a move would set a dangerous global precedent.In a letter dated 8 April and made public on Thursday, the experts, led by Reem Alsalem, the UN...

African nurse leaders say poorer nations face severe shortages despite rules intended to stop wealthy countries poaching staffThe UK and other wealthy countries have been accused of adopting a “new form of colonialism” in recruiting huge numbers of nurses from poorer nations to fill their own staffing gaps.International nursing leaders said the trend was leading to worse patient care in developing nations, which were...

Progress to prevent female genital mutilation needs to be ‘27 times faster’, says UNThe number of girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased by 15% in the past eight years according to new data.Figures released by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, show that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, compared with 200 million...

Amina Noor travelled from north London with the child to Kenya where the procedure was carried out in 2006A woman who was found guilty of handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) during a trip to Kenya has been jailed for seven years.Amina Noor, 40, was convicted last year of assisting a Kenyan woman to carry out the procedure overseas...

Activists will cross the continent visiting areas where the practice is prevalent to revive progress in protecting women and girlsAfrican female genital mutilation survivors will lead thousands of campaigners in a two-year “caravan campaign” across the continent, calling for an end to the practice.Organised by #FrontlineEndingFGM, a group of grassroots activists and organisations in Africa will cover about 7,400 miles (12,000km) across 20 countries,...

Children’s parents and those who performed the procedure are in police custody, according to local reportsPolice in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM).Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports. Continue reading...

Resurgence classified as grade 3 emergency by WHO, with southern Africa and Haiti among those hardest hitCholera cases soared last year, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organization, which recorded 4,000 cholera deaths and 667,000 cases globally.The numbers surpassed that of 2022, and the WHO has classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency, its highest internal health emergency...