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Doctors in the Black Country are recording an average of nearly 12 cases of female genital mutilation every month.

Between April and June this year, 35 cases of female genital mutilation were newly recorded by doctors in our area, latest figures from NHS Digital reveal.

This does not necessarily mean that the woman or girl suffered from FGM recently - just that they appeared in the database for the first time.

In total, 35 women and girls in our area were either identified as having undergone the practice, or had a procedure relating to FGM during over this period.

In most cases, the age that the FGM had been carried out was not reported.

However, where the age was given, most of the victims had been between five and nine years old when they had FGM performed on them - around 15 cases.

(Image: Daily Record)

In around 10 cases the victim was aged between one and four years old, while around 10 were under the age of one and a further 10 were aged

10-14. The figures are rounded to the nearest five, however, so it’s impossible to give an exact number.

Most of the women and girls were born in and underwent FGM in Eastern Africa.

FGM refers to procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Female genital mutilation has been illegal in the UK since 1985, with the law being strengthened in 2003 to prevent girls traveling from the

UK and undergoing FGM abroad.

Across England as a whole, 1,675 women and girls attended medical appointments between April and June where FGM was either identified or

being treated.

The majority had been five and nine years old when they had the procedure, but as many as 70 had been under the age of one.

Most of them were born in and underwent FGM in an African country, although in around 25 cases the procedure was performed within the UK.

In most cases in the UK the FGM performed was genital piercing, which some communities force girls to have.

During the three-month period, 1,015 cases of FGM were recorded by doctors for the first time - four in every 10 of them in London.