Female genital mutilation has no health benefits for girls and women and causes immediate and long-term health consequences.
Immediate sexual and reproductive health issues include severe bleeding, infections, problems urinating, and debilitating pain.
Later in life, girls who have been subject to female genital mutilation face longer-term health risks, such as chronic pain, cysts, abnormal scarring, menstrual problems, sexual problems such as pain during intercourse and decreased satisfaction, infertility, complications in childbirth, postpartum hemorrhages, stillbirth, and increased risk of newborn deaths. In some cases, these complications are fatal to the woman.
The psychological impacts of female genital mutilation include girls losing trust in their caregivers, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and low self-esteem. The physical and psychological consequences of FGM can also become barriers for girls and women to learn, work, and socialize.