More than 140 million women and girls are living with the consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM).
Concerns over the practice, which involves cutting part or all of a girl's outer genitalia, are now firmly on the international agenda. In December, the UN general assembly banned the practice. But, globally, thousands of girls are still at risk.
The NSPCC last month launched a helpline to protect girls in the UK from undergoing FGM. More than 20,000 girls in the UK are believed to be at risk.
This month's Global development podcast discusses the difficulty of dealing with a practice that dates back generations and is considered by some to be a taboo subject.
In the studio, Liz Ford talks to Naana Otoo-Oyortey, executive director of the NGO Forward, Nimco Ali, co-founder of Daughters of Eve and, down the line, from Bogaletch Gebre, founder and director of KMG Ethiopia.
