0 1
1 0 to 5
2 5 to 10
3 10 to 20
4 20 to 30
5 30 to 40
6 40+
7 No Data

Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting in Africa

What does it mean ?

Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting (FGM / C) refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of FGM / C is the percentage of all women aged 15-49 years who have undergone FGM.

Why does it matter ?

FGM / C is a violation of the rights of girls and women and is considered a form of gender-based violence. It is associated with serious adverse short and long term health consequences including pain, bleeding, infection and birth complications. Data on the practice is needed to evaluate the impact of policies and legislation and monitor progress toward elimination, which is included as a target for Sustainable Development Goal 5: to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Target 5.3: by 2030 "eliminate all harmful practices, such as early, forced and child marriage, and female genital mutilation."

How is it collected ?

Most data on FGM / C is self-reported and collected retrospectively from large scale, nationally representative surveys such as Demographic and Health (DHS) or Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).

Unicef datasets most recent available data
http://data.unicef.org/child-protection/fgmc.html Accessed 15th August 2016

Infant Mortality Rate

What does it mean ?

The infant mortality rate is the probability that a child will die between the time of birth and exactly 1 year of age; it is expressed per every 1000 live births in that same year. A live birth refers to any baby that is born that shows signs of life outside of the womb.

Why does it matter ?

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was chosen as one of the indicators to be tracked as part of the targets of Millennium Development Goal 4, to reduce child mortality. It is a general indicator of child health. Rather than being an indicator that looks specifically at health care delivery it is an indicator of the socio-economic, environmental and nutritional status of children.

How is it collected ?

A preferable source of data for calculating Infant Mortality Rates is from nationally registered births and deaths. Where registration systems are incomplete, other methods are used such as household surveys where women are asked about every baby they have given birth to and how long the child survived or population censuses. To calculate the mortality estimate, the data from these sources are analysed statistically using a particular model designed by the UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

IMR 2018 - World Bank. 2020. Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN [Accessed 9 March 2020]