Astrid Fairclough, Female Genital Mutilation Prevention - Programme Manager, Department of Health, Government of the United Kingdom - DFID Girl Summit 2014

"It remains best practice to share information between healthcare professionals to support the ongoing provision of care and efforts to safeguard women and girls against FGM." - National Health Service (NHS)

Spotlight A7 - "The Role of Health, Education & Social Care Professionals in Creating Change"

Context: This presentation is from one of the 14 "Spotlights on Progress" video-recorded sessions from the Girl Summit 2014, London, United Kingdom (UK). The sessions were organised to share best practice between practitioners, grassroots activists, and government ministers across the issues of female genital mutilation (FGM) (also FGM/C - female genital mutilation/cutting) and child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM). Girl Summit is a project of the Department for International Development (DFID), UK. This particular spotlight shares stories about inspiring teachers and committed health workers, as well as evidence from around the world showing how health and education systems and services can connect with communities.

Profile of speaker: Ms. Fairclough has worked within the United Kingdom (UK)'s National Health Service (NHS) for nearly 10 years, gradually specialising in leading change projects ensuring the right access to and provision of care for patient groups with specific needs. The Department of Health FGM Prevention Programme is embarking on change across the NHS, recognising good practice and success stories from across the NHS and bringing these onto the national framework.

Strategy overview: In her presentation "Role of health professionals - UK National Health Service", which can be viewed in the video below, Ms. Fairclough looked at successful safeguarding models, where there is interaction between the NHS and the family and with the community. She also discussed how data work is being developed to ensure that what is known by the NHS locally, regionally, and nationally can be shared with community groups to inform decisions about support and services provided.

[Editor's note: The Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence Dataset was published on April 2 2014. Click here to read about the details of the requirement - e.g., it is now mandatory for any NHS healthcare professional to document within a patient's clinical record if they identify through the delivery of healthcare services that a woman or girl has had FGM.]

Astrid spoke about the NHS's role in preventing FGM and supporting victims [The NHS defines FGM as child abuse. Click here to access the NHS procedure for reporting FGM concerns to social services or the police.] One of the first steps, she said, is to develop and implement strategies so that the NHS can be clearer about what services can be accessed by survivors. Astrid also explained that the NHS needs to look at what is working, including integrated approaches, FGM clinics, toolkits to facilitate conversations on FGM, and efforts to empower health professionals to take action - such as through training to address these professionals' worries about cultural sensitivities, which can prevent help being offered for FGM.

Overview of this Summit session: "Change is underway. Health, education and social care systems and those within them can make it go faster and further. This spotlight will share exciting stories and evidence from around the world: stories of inspiring teachers and committed health workers - and evidence for how health and education systems and services can connect with communities." Following an introduction by Edward Timpson MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children & Families in the Department for Education, England, the Chair of this session, Jane Ellison, MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health at the Department of Health, moderated the panel of speakers. In order of appearance, they are:

• Dr. Guyo Jaldesa, Senior Lecturer, University of Nairobi, and Coordinator of the Africa Coordinating Centre for the Abandonment of FGM
• Astrid Fairclough, Female Genital Mutilation Prevention - Programme Manager, Department of Health, Government of the United Kingdom
• Saria Khalifa, Youth Programme Lead, FORWARD
• Dr. Ravi Verma Regional Director, ICRW Asia Regional Office
• Sonia Aziz Malik Senior Lecturer, Regional Institute of Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights, Ahfad University for Women

Footage of this (available below) presentation and others are available on DFID's YouTube channel.

The Girl Summit is a project of DFID. Click here and scroll down to see the full list of individuals and organisations committed to working on girls' issues, as well as a list of Girl Summit Charter signatories.