The United Nations' children's agency Unicef estimates that about 200 million girls and women have been cut worldwide, based on data from 31 countries, mostly in Africa. But Equality Now said at least 92 countries were affected by FGM, including Singapore, Iran, India and Sri Lanka. Srinivasan urged countries to gather national data on FGM prevalence, adding that the UN global estimate was a "woeful under-representation" of the true picture. "The data I gathered was shocking, devastating," said al Hinai, founder of the Omani Association for Human Rights. Misconceptions in Oman around FGM included that it was good for a woman's health, stopped cancer, improved sex with her husband and made childbirth easier, she said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 18, 2020 00:33 UTC