Every day, 121 women (Scientific Reports, 2023) and 55 newborn babies (WHO, 2006) die as a result of complications linked to female genital mutilation (FGM). That’s over 44,000 maternal deaths (WHO, 2023) and 20,000 newborn deaths each year.
Every 12 minutes, a girl dies as a direct result of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
(The Orchid Project, 2025)
FGM is not only a human rights crisis – it is robbing thousands of women and babies of their lives. And it’s going unrecognised.
In child-birth, women who are survivors of FGM often face:
- Severe scar tissue that prevents safe delivery.
- Excessive blood loss, with high rates of Postpartum Haemorrhage – a leading cause of maternal mortality globally.
- Obstructed labour that can last for days.
- Fatal infections, including sepsis, from tearing and trauma.
- Life-saving procedures like cesarean sections and episiotomies become harder due to distortion and scar tissue.
- There’s a much higher risk of uterine rupture, prolonged labour, and need for assisted delivery.
- Women with Type III FGM often have to be surgically opened before birth – painful, traumatic, and dangerous.
Their babies are often stillborn or die shortly after birth:
- Obstructed labour puts babies at high risk of oxygen deprivation.
- Risk of being trapped in the birth canal.
- FGM increases the chances of stillbirth and early neonatal death.
- Babies born to cut mothers have higher rates of low birth weight.
- Birth trauma and failure to breathe at birth are more common.
These deaths are entirely preventable.
What makes a difference? Investment in locally-led, cost-effective, and evidence-best interventions.
Through the multi-sectoral Born Perfect Campaign, communities are, often for the first time, confronted with the brutal health consequences of FGM. These mobile campaigns – led by frontline women, local medical professionals, and religious leaders – are region-specific, and crucially built on the lived-experiences of thousands of FGM survivors and frontline women.
It combines the tried-and-tested most effective approaches to fighting FGM, as supported by the UNICEF’s ‘What works to prevent female genital mutilation?’ 2024 report, into a singular, holistic model.
The caravan campaign uses powerful films, testimonies, songs, legal messaging, religious condemnation of FGM, and real medical evidence to break the silence and shift attitudes.
In areas where over 90% of girls are still being cut, the impact has been transformative:
The Born Perfect Caravans are followed by region-specific, relentless, and targeted local media campaigns, engaging cultural and religious authorities, no ear left untouched by the end-FGM message.
No village left behind.
We know what works. We can save tens of thousands of mothers and babies.
Watch the Born Perfect 3-Step Solution here, and more information on the Born Perfect Caravans here.
👉 Donate here to support locally-driven, evidence-based change.
