FGM survivors in the UK are travelling abroad to obtain surgery unavailable on the NHS. 

The UK’s current approach falls short of the World Health Organisation’s updated guidelines, which call for comprehensive, trauma-informed care for FGM survivors, including access to reconstructive surgery, and effective psychosocial support.

Only about 10% of the UK’s estimated 170,000 FGM survivors, approximately 17,000 women, are eligible for the NHS’s sole surgical intervention deinfibulation.

This leaves roughly 153,000 women without any surgical option. Numbers are speculated to be even higher with many cases not captured in official statistics

Shamsa Araweelo, an FGM survivor living with chronic pain, was forced to raise £30,000 for reconstructive surgery in Germany. “The NHS failed to provide me with the healthcare I needed,” she says. “No survivor should have to crowdfund their right to a pain-free life.”

“Even if I did have a deinfibulation in the UK, it would mean that they would open you up until they can see the urethra, and then they stop. The NHS won’t repair any of the damage.”

Empirical evidence indicates a notable demand for reconstructive surgery among FGM survivors. Juliet Albert, co-lead of ACERS-UK, reports that “across 27 services in one year, 90 women presented requesting reconstructive surgery.” Albert emphasises the necessity for expanded research into FGM reconstruction to address this demand.

As July begins, it marks the onset of the so-called "Cutting Season," a period during school holidays when girls are considered to be at heightened risk of being taken abroad to undergo female genital mutilation.

“This is the highest season for it,” activist and survivor Leyla Hussein told The Telegraph.“Because of the convictions they are now taking girls younger and younger. They know now they have to be more careful”

This aligns with recent research published in February 2025 by Professors Flowe and Rockey at the University of Birmingham. It reports a girl dies every 12 minutes as a result of FGM-related complications.

“It’s not enough,” says Hussien, referring to the UK’s limited surgical provision for FGM survivors. “Just deinfibulation is not enough…I can give as much therapeutic support as I can but reconstructive surgery would be life changing for these women”

Deinfibulation is a minor surgical procedure to reopen the vulval tissue, it can be carried out to assist a woman safely deliver her baby, make sex, menstruation and urinating more comfortable. It is the only surgical procedure for FGM available in the U.K. 

Despite the documented need, the UK has yet to expand its surgical provisions. Albert remains unequivocal: “Yes, we are failing FGM survivors.” She adds, “It’s embarrassing that the UK has not taken this forward for all these years. I mean, in France, since 1998 more than 7,000 women have had reconstruction surgery, and yet we don't even offer it here.”

Hussein echoes this sentiment, “The NHS has a duty of care to these women. These are British women. These are women who are suffering, and it's literally a basic duty of care.”

For some survivors, the institutional inadequacy feels deeply personal. “I have felt profoundly neglected by both the NHS and the UK government,” says Araweelo.

The UK’s failure to provide comprehensive surgical care for FGM survivors is not only a healthcare shortcoming but a profound injustice to thousands of British women living with chronic pain and trauma.

As international standards evolve, the NHS must urgently expand its services beyond deinfibulation to include reconstructive surgery and holistic support.

Without swift action, survivors will continue to seek care abroad—often at great personal and financial cost—while the UK falls behind its European counterparts.

It is time for the government to recognise reconstructive surgery as an essential element of the duty of care owed to these women and to uphold their right to accessible, specialised healthcare on home soil.