By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications
How UCLA advocates are working with global partners to end the practice.
UCLA Global, February 24, 2026 — Many of the most meaningful and enduring collaborative research projects begin with a single conversation. At UCLA, one such exchange sparked an expanding international collaboration aimed at ending female genital mutilation.
That dialogue began in 2024, when Wendelin Slusser, associate vice provost of the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center, and Tracy Johnson, UCLA’s dean of life sciences, met Fatou Baldeh, a Gambian health and human rights activist visiting campus. Baldeh is the founder of Women in Liberation and Leadership, a survivor-led organization working to abolish female genital mutilation — also known as FGM/C, or cutting — worldwide.
Their initial conversation, which explored how the Global Health Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA could help support and amplify Baldeh’s mission, has today grown into an ongoing collaboration grounded in medical science, survivor leadership and culturally responsive solutions. Their collaboration leverages the efforts of medical schools, professional medical organizations and survivor advocacy organizations.
“Throughout my career, I have found that the most meaningful lessons transcend borders. This is why I am deeply honored to have met Fatou and learn about her impactful work,” said Slusser. “The global perspective I gained early in my career, including six years with USAID-funded projects, continues to guide my service to UCLA and Los Angeles. Connections with leaders like Fatou help us learn to better support the communities we call home.”
What is female genital mutilation?
FGM/C is a culturally rooted practice affecting girls and women in more than 90 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East and their diaspora communities. It refers to all procedures that involve partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury for non-medical reasons; commonly, this can mean removal of the clitoris and labia minora, as well as the narrowing of the vaginal opening with stiches.
The practice, frequently performed on children, can cause serious health problems for girls and women, both immediately and later in life. These can include severe pain and emotional trauma; repeated infections of the genital or urinary tract; problems with menstrual flow; long-lasting pelvic pain; and problems with pregnancy and childbirth such as long or difficult labor, heavy bleeding or the need for cesarean delivery.
The United Nations first recognized FGM/C as a human rights violation in 1993 and has set a goal of eliminating the practice worldwide by 2030. But in many countries — including Gambia, where the government banned cutting in 2015, with little enforcement, and faced a strong backlash from traditionalists — the practice endures. It has accordingly fallen to activists like Baldeh, who have engaged in years of local and international activism, to combat it.
Baldeh’s advocacy in this area has earned her global recognition, including a U.S. State Department’s 2024 International Women of Courage Award and designation as one of Time magazine’s Women of the Year and 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2025. During her initial 2024 visit to UCLA, Baldeh participated in a roundtable and public panel at the Anderson School of Management alongside fellow Women of Courage honorees, engaging students and faculty in discussions on leadership, resilience and social change.
In November 2025, Fatou Baldeh received an Albie Award from the Clooney Foundation for Justice for her
ongoing efforts to combat FGM/C at both community and governmental levels. Faculty from UCLA are now
working with Fatou,her Women in Liberation and Leadership organization, and advocacy and medical
training organizations to help end the practice around the world.
Expanding global collaboration to end FGM/C
After connecting with Slusser and Johnson, Baldeh returned to UCLA a year later to deepen ties with campus leaders and medical students through the school of medicine’s Global Health Program. During that visit, Baldeh connected with Dr. Aparna Sridhar, a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology and global health advocate whose work has elevated FGM/C within international medical and policy frameworks. That connection proved pivotal, helping shape the direction of UCLA’s growing FGM/C–related initiatives.
“I still remember the day I listened to Fatou Baldeh tell her story,” Sridhar said. “I read about her advocacy, and it stayed with me. Her voice inspired me to use my position within the medical and global health community to speak up, educate and work toward ending FGM/C worldwide.”
The two women have played a central role in shaping the direction of ongoing collaborative FGM/C–related work and initiatives involving UCLA, Women in Liberation and Leadership, and an array of advocacy and medical training organizations. Baldeh’s leadership and on-the-ground experience in Gambia provides continuous critical insight into how FGM/C persists within health, legal and cultural systems — and how context-specific interventions can be designed to dismantle it.
For her part, Sridhar has mobilized obstetricians and gynecologists worldwide to recognize FGM/C as both a serious public health issue and a violation of human rights, as seen in the global call to action to end the practice by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, or FIGO, which Sridhar helped draft.
Working with health practitioners and survivors on the ground
The UCLA medical professor is currently working with Baldeh to initiate a needs assessment project in Gambia focused on pre-service health education, with the support from the UCLA Global Health Program and its sister entity within the medical school’s department of obstetrics and gynecology, the Global Reproductive Health Alliance for Collaborative Engagement, or GRACE program. Baldeh has been instrumental in facilitating connections with Gambian health training institutions, including its national health university, with the aim of facilitating local collaboration and capacity building.
The Gambian activist is also now formally involved in advocacy events and initiatives with the international nonprofit Orchid Project and FIGO to help strengthen cross-sector partnerships between survivor-led advocacy and global medical institutions. Just recently, she and Sridhar coordinated an international webinar as part of International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on Feb. 6, 2026. The event — co-sponsored by the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations, or IFMSA, and the Orchid Project (and endorsed by FIGO) — featured Baldeh as one of several speakers.
Additional initiatives are underway to integrate FGM/C education and awareness into medical student training internationally, such as engaging with IFMSA, with the goal of equipping future health care providers with the knowledge, ethical grounding and clinical skills necessary to address FGM/C in diverse practice settings.
“Ending female genital mutilation requires moving beyond isolated efforts toward coordinated global action — mapping ongoing work, aligning health providers, educators, policymakers and advocates across sectors,” said Aparna. “We need to equip the next generation of providers with the knowledge, cultural humility and advocacy skills needed to sustainably eliminate the practice that is harming women around the world.”
How you can help
Ending FGM/C requires sustained collective action, and there are meaningful ways to engage. As Baldeh, Sridhar and their collaborators have emphasized, progress depends on informed allies who are willing to listen, learn and stand alongside survivors in the global effort to protect girls and women.
At UCLA. Students and faculty can connect with the Global Health Program and GRACE program at the David Geffen School of Medicine to help support research, education and advocacy efforts.
Outside UCLA. People can help amplify the work of survivor-led organizations like Women in Liberation and Leadership and partner groups like the Orchid Project, IFMSA and FIGO by volunteering, sharing educational resources, supporting policy initiatives and contributing to community-based programs working to shift social norms.
Related links
Published: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
