FGM Awareness & Prevention

Duration: 20 Minutes

FGM stands for Female Genital Mutilation which has no medical reason behind it but is more often due to cultural or non-therapeutic beliefs. Other terms it falls under are ‘female circumcision’ or ‘cutting’.

FGM is illegal and classed as child abuse in the UK. It is often performed on young girls between the ages of four and eight, to ensure it is before puberty. The aim of FGM is to inhibit a woman’s sexual feelings

There are four different types of FGM that are explained in the course and they are often performed by people who are not medically trained (but may have conducted FGM many times before).

As well as the basic principles against it, the act of FGM usually does not include antiseptics and anaesthetics and this can result in large amounts of pain and sometimes infection.

But the arguably biggest problem with FGM is that due to the age of the girls receiving the procedure, they may not actually consent to it and are forced into it and this can develop mental health problems at a later date.

FGM Awareness & Prevention Course Contents

1 FGM Awareness

Performing Female Genital Mutilation means physically injuring, changing, or removing part or all of the female genitals but for no medical reason. The section looks at why communities practice FGM, if it is a religious practice, whether it is legal and the effects of FGM including whether it has any medical benefits

2. FGM Prevention

If you work in the education or health and social care, preventing FGM is part of your legal safeguarding duty and you need to follow the same procedures as you do for other safeguarding issues. In this section, we look at the what you must do if you have concerns about a young person’s safety or wellbeing.

Test & Certificate

There will be one or two questions in between sections which are designed to reinforce learning and ensure maximum engagement but do not count towards the final test. This test usually has around 20 multiple choice questions and when passed, a printable certificate can be downloaded.

Call 01206 363710 or complete the Contact Form to request further details