The world marked the International Day of zero tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation over the weekend and that provided an opportunity to evaluate the steps taken by African countries, where prevalence rates have been know to be high. Last year, Nigeria and Gambia took giant strides toward the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation by adopting legislation that makes it a crime to engage in any such activity that constitutes FGM.
Egypt and Ethiopia featured on the list of countries with most FGM victims released by UNICEF. There has been much progress however as data made available by the global body reflects that the prevalence rates of FGM among girls aged 15 to 19 have declined by 41 percentage points in Liberia, 31 in Burkina Faso, 30 in Kenya and 27 in Egypt over the last 30 years. Read more on FGM prevalence rates across Africa