Social workers claim access to a platform that records genital mutilation.

Social workers do not have access to a platform that identifies victims of female genital mutilation in Portugal, and this prevents the registration of new cases, two specialists from Maternidade Alfredo da Costa in Lisbon warned on Monday.

According to statements by Fatima Jarepe and Marta Trindade for Lusa, social workers are responsible for identifying “37% of cases” of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Maternidade Alfredo da Costa (MAC), but then cannot register them directly with eHealth. Recording where, since March 2014, women and girls living in Portugal can be identified who have undergone genital mutilation, which causes serious and irreversible physical and psychological damage.

The platform is “very closed,” which restricts access for medical professionals, they told Luce, on the sidelines of the “No to Female Genital Mutilation” educative action that took place this Monday at the MAC Amphitheater to mark Zero Day of Tolerance. Mutilation of the female genital organs.

Fatima Harepe, coordinator of the MAC social support unit, said that a request for a platform change has already been sent to the general services of the Ministry of Health.

This is because the fact that social workers are “off” the roster hinders the detection of new cases of FGM, complains Marta Trindade, who reported this in a presentation she prepared for MAC professionals participating in the training.

Lusa has already requested the general services of the Ministry of Health, which manages an electronic health record that collects clinical data provided by health care organizations in order to improve the service to citizens.

The United Nations estimates that FGM affects 200 million women worldwide and puts more than 4 million girls at risk each year.

According to data compiled by the Electronic Health Record released this Monday by the Directorate General of Health, 190 cases of FGM were reported last year (up 24% compared to 2021).

Most of the cases were detected in the divisions of the Regional Directorate of Health (ARS) of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (only two cases were detected in the ARS Center), and most of the records were in hospital care (77.9%, with primary care -sanitary assistance revealed 22.1%).

According to the same data, among the 190 victims of the practice identified in 2022, more than half suffered from comorbidities.

Since March 2014, when the platform went live, 853 cases of FGM have been reported, mostly outside the national territory.

The data indicate a predominance of cases carried out in Guinea-Bissau (70.5%) and Guinea-Conakry (23.7%).

FGM is practiced in about 30 African countries that have also migrated to Europe, where there are about 500,000 mutilated women.

An estimated 6,500 women, mostly from Guinea-Bissau, live in Portugal, victims of a practice that has been considered a separate crime since 2015.

Guinea-Bissau, where female genital mutilation has been punishable by law since 2011, is the only Portuguese-speaking country included in international lists of the practice, with a prevalence rate affecting half of the women.

Female genital mutilation, which involves the removal of all or part of the genitals, with serious physical, psychological and sexual consequences that can even lead to death, has been internationally recognized as a violation of human rights.