page_title: Prevalence of female genital mutilation
section_title: Gambia
hierarchical_section_title: Prevalence of female genital mutilation / Africa / Gambia
caption_attribution_description: Road sign in Bakua, Gambia
context_page_description: Female genital mutilation, also known as female genital cutting, is practiced in 30 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of the Middle East and Asia, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. The WHO defines the practice as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."
  In a 2013 UNICEF report covering 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, Egypt had the region's highest total number of women that have undergone FGM, while Somalia had the highest percentage of FGM.
  The world's first known campaign against FGM took place in Egypt in the 1920s. FGM prevalence in Egypt in 1995 was still at least as high as Somalia's 2013 world record, despite dropping significantly since then among young women. Estimates of the prevalence of FGM vary according to source.
context_section_description: Female genital mutilation is prevalent in The Gambia. A 2006 UNICEF survey found a 78.3% prevalence rate in The Gambia. In a 2013 report, an estimated 76.3% of girls and women have been subjected to FGM/C. As FGM is less prevalent among younger women according to City University London in 2015, this suggested a decline in the practice.
  The Gambia's predominant religion is Islam (90%), and it has many ethnic groups. Prevalence rates of FGM/C vary significantly between the ethnic groups: Sarahule (FGM rate of 98%), Mandinka (97%), Djola (87%), Serer (43%), and Wolof (12%). Urban areas report FGM/C rates of about 56%, whereas in rural areas, rates exceed 90%. A majority of Gambian women who underwent FGM/C claimed they did it primarily because religion mandates it. The age when FGM is done on Gambian girls ranges from 7 days after birth up to pre-adolescence.
  A 2011 clinical study reports 66% FGMs in The Gambia were Type I, 26% were Type II and 8% Type III. About a third of all women in Gambia with FGM/C, including Type I, suffered health complications because of the procedure. In 2015, Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh has banned FGM.
caption: Anti-FGM road sign, Bakau, Gambia, 2005
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "C730UZ", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "v556u-78", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:24 23:42:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "242", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1650", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7995", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:11:14 12:45:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:11:14 12:45:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "153/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "666", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "553", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "800", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "600", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1502", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "59fc56fe54b059e4ac7ea0c0bc97acd6"}