Editing Female genital mutilation (section)

===Short term===
[[File:Anti-FGM campaign, Walala Biyotey, 25 January 2014.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|alt=photograph|FGM awareness session run by the [[African Union Mission to Somalia]] at the Walalah Biylooley refugee camp, [[Mogadishu]], 2014]]
FGM harms women's physical and emotional health throughout their lives.{{sfn|Berg|Underland|Odgaard-Jensen|Fretheim|2014}}{{sfn|Reisel|Creighton|2015|loc=49}} It has no known health benefits.<ref name=WHO2018health/> The short-term and late [[complication (medicine)|complications]] depend on the type of FGM, whether the practitioner has had medical training, and whether they used antibiotics and sterilized or single-use surgical instruments. In the case of Type III, other factors include how small a hole was left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood, whether surgical thread was used instead of agave or acacia thorns, and whether the procedure was performed more than once (for example, to close an opening regarded as too wide or re-open one too small).{{sfn|Abdulcadir|Margairaz|Boulvain|Irion|2011}}

Common short-term complications include swelling, excessive bleeding, pain, [[Urinary retention|urine retention]], and healing problems/[[wound infection]]. A 2014 systematic review of 56 studies suggested that over one in ten girls and women undergoing any form of FGM, including symbolic nicking of the clitoris (Type IV), experience immediate complications, although the risks increased with Type III. The review also suggested that there was under-reporting.{{efn|Berg and Underland (Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, 2014): "There was evidence of under-reporting of complications. However, the findings show that the FGM/C procedure unequivocally causes immediate, and typically several, health complications during the FGM/C procedure and the short-term period. Each of the most common complications occurred in more than one of every ten girls and women who undergo FGM/C. The participants in these studies had FGM/C types I through IV, thus immediate complications such as bleeding and swelling occur in setting with all forms of FGM/C. Even FGM/C type I and type IV 'nick', the forms of FGM/C with least anatomical extent, presented immediate complications. The results document that multiple immediate and quite serious complications can result from FGM/C. These results should be viewed in light of long-term complications, such as obstetric and gynecological problems, and protection of human rights."{{sfn|Berg|Underland|2014|loc=2}}}} Other short-term complications include fatal bleeding, [[anaemia]], [[urinary infection]], [[septicaemia]], [[tetanus]], [[gangrene]], [[necrotizing fasciitis]] (flesh-eating disease), and [[endometritis]].<ref>{{harvnb|Reisel|Creighton|2015|loc=49}}; {{harvnb|Iavazzo|Sardi|Gkegkes|2013}}; {{harvnb|Abdulcadir|Margairaz|Boulvain|Irion|2011}}.</ref> It is not known how many girls and women die as a result of the practice, because complications may not be recognized or reported. The practitioners' use of shared instruments is thought to aid the transmission of [[hepatitis B]], [[hepatitis C]] and [[HIV]], although no epidemiological studies have shown this.{{sfn|Reisel|Creighton|2015|loc=50}}