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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Caroline Kimeu

‘Every chemist has a backroom’: the rise of secret FGM in Kenya

FGM Kenya Unicef
A roadside pharmacy near Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Around the country, particularly in Kisii county, such buildings double as FGM clinics.
A roadside pharmacy near Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Around the country, particularly in Kisii county, such buildings double as FGM clinics. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

In Kisii town, south-west Kenya, a rundown roadside building houses a pharmacy. Narrow broken windows allow little light into the bare-shelved dispensary. The ground floor is partitioned into two small rooms, one covered in cloths concealing what lies beneath; in the other, a single bed is just visible through a gap in the curtains.

Like many others in the area, the pharmacy doubles as a clinic. Lilian Kemunto*, a former surgical nurse, set it up after she retired in 2018. She mainly does health check-ups but has also offered female genital mutilation (FGM) services on request.

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