Twelve tips for teaching medical students about female genital mutilation (FGM)

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Seeing women or girls from FGM practising communities can be a challenge for healthcare professionals, involving a complex interplay of professional duties, legal requirements, social and cultural understanding, and sensitive, skilled communication. Aims and methods: Robust training on how to identify and support women and girlswho have undergone or who are at risk of FGM, including fulfilling FGM-related legal duties,is essential for healthcare professionals. We believe it is important that this training begins in medical school so that junior doctors feel prepared to talk to women and girls from FGM practising communities as soon as they qualify and start work. Results: We have reviewed the limited existing literature on teaching medical and other healthcare students about FGM and have drawn on our many years of providing well-evaluated teaching sessions on FGM at UCL Medical School to design twelve tips as a blueprint for running sensitive and effective undergraduate teaching on FGM. Conclusions: Effective teaching for medical students on FGM is important and feasible. Curricula leads and individual teachers will benefit from a structured, comprehensive and culturally sensitive approach outlined in the twelve tips.