America makes history by charging a doctor with Female Genital Mutilation

When will Kenya arrest the medics who carry out Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)? What can Kenya learn from the first arrest and prosecution of a doctor who carried out FGM in the United States of America?  The irony, however, is that Medicalized FGM has shot up to 41% according to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2014, even with the declining FGM national prevalence now standing at 21%.

With information in public domain showing that medical professionals are increasingly performing the harmful procedure in public or private hospitals, with some doctors setting up temporary FGM “clinics” during school holidays, the Kenyan government should move with speed and apprehend such doctors.

Speaking to ABC News Shelby Quast, director, Equality Now America’s Office, said she is “encouraged” that Nagarwala was arrested, ‘prosecution is just a piece of the package’.

Quast further stressed the importance of prevention and ensuring that law enforcement, lawmakers, the health care community, education community, religious leaders, survivors, and activists work together to protect women in U.S. from the “harmful practice.”

The arrest in the U.S. not only paints the picture of  FGM being a global issue, but the fact that the law can be used as a deterrent.

“FGM is a global issue and affects hundreds of thousands of women and girls across the U.S.  We need serious commitment from government child protection, law enforcement, education, healthcare officials along with community and religious leaders to finally eliminate FGM,” Shelby Quast, director Equality Now America’s Office said.

“The sectors need to come together to ensure we address FGM holistically. We need more education around how to prevent FGM but also provide the much-needed services to those women and girls who are affected.  FGM is not a religious practice but a form of violence against girls. Law enforcement is very important but it must work collaboration with prevention efforts.”

The latest UNICEF data indicates that over 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM globally.