In Gambia, around 73% of women and girls aged 15–49 have undergone female genital mutilation, most before their 5th birthday. Many live with chronic pain, infections, childbirth complications and deep psychological scars.

Yet, for these survivors, clitoral reconstruction — a surgery that can help restore sensation, ease pain and rebuild confidence — is almost out of reach. Fatou Baldeh, a leading anti‑FGM campaigner, said most Gambian women would have to travel abroad — often to Europe — to access such surgery. 

Even as the country battles one of the continent's highest FGM rates, activists say their immediate fight is to uphold the national ban — currently under threat at the Supreme Court.