The international medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers said its workers have provided surgical equipment for female circumcision, but claimed it does not support the procedure. MSF said providing clean instruments is considered a "first aid response," since female genital mutilation can result in infections and cause "horrific complications" in childbirth and intercourse.
     "It takes place and we have to be pragmatic," a spokesperson said. "In some cases our volunteers would prefer to see it happen in sanitary conditions with clean and sharp implements, rather than a traditional, rusty knife. If they decide it is better to offer clean instruments, we support them. However, this an individual's decision, and this does not reflect MSF policy."
     But a spokesperson for the World Health Organization criticized MSF's actions. WHO's Gregory Hartl: "The practice is a major human rights violation, and we refuse to see the medicalization of something that is wholly unnecessary. We should not tolerate this practice even under sterile conditions. It is utterly barbaric."
     Nahid Toubia, president of a group that campaigns for the health and rights of African women: "I understand the immediate dilemma of field workers ... but people in the communities might think Westerners are endorsing their tradition, when we should be campaigning against it."
     Each year millions of girls worldwide undergo circumcision (Nicole Veash, London Observer, 22 Aug).

Editorial Urges End To Practice
     An editorial in the Kampala New Vision calls the continued practice of female circumcision "a dreadful blot on the image of Uganda abroad." The newspaper praises local officials in one district who have launched a campaign to end the practice (21 Aug).
     Last week 29-year-old Adelaide Abankwah was granted political asylum by US immigration authorities because she feared genital mutilation if she returned to Ghana (UN Wire, 18 Aug).