With the high rates of medicalization of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Egypt, UNFPA, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Population, held capacity-building workshops on the harms of FGM for medical personnel in governorates across Egypt.

This training is part of UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to eliminate FGM. More trainings on the same topic were held during the last months of 2020 in Minya, Damietta among other governorates.

Within this context, a meeting was held to develop a framework to combat the medicalization of FGM under the auspices of the National Committee for the Eradication of FGM, in the presence of Dr. Maya Morsy the President of the National Council for Women, Dr. Sahar El-Sonbaty, Secretary General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and Nada Naja, UNFPA Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist.

According to the national 2014 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), 92 percent of Egyptian married women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone FGM, 82 percent of whom by doctors.

In June of 2008, the Egyptian Parliament agreed to criminalize FGM in the Penal Code, establishing a minimum custodial sentence of three months and a maximum of two years, or an alternative minimum penalty of 1,000 Egyptian pounds (LE) and a maximum of 5,000 LE.