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Conversation on female genital mutilation dr comfort momoh and pamela bischof
Comfort Iyabo Amah Momoh MBE (born c. 1962) is a British midwife who specializes in the treatment of female genital mutilation (FGM). Born in Nigeria, Momoh is a member of the British FGM national clinical group, established in 2007 to train health professionals in how to deal with the practice. Until 2017 she served as a public-health specialist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London. She is the editor of Female Genital Mutilation (2005).
Contents
- Conversation on female genital mutilation dr comfort momoh and pamela bischof
- Early life and education
- Career
- Awards
- 2017 complaint
- References
Early life and education
Momoh was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian-Ghanaian family. Her maternal grandmother died days before Momoh's birth, and she was mostly raised by her paternal grandmother.
In 1981 she moved to the UK to train as a nurse at North Middlesex Hospital. It was at Middlesex that she first studied FGM, which is not practised by her tribe in Nigeria. In 2002 she obtained a BSc in women's healthcare from the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London. She received a Florence Nightingale Foundation scholarship in 2007 to conduct research into FGM in Africa, and in 2015 the foundation awarded her a travel scholarship to visit the United States to study their approach to FGM.
Career
In 1997 Momoh set up the African Well Women's Clinic at St Thomas's Hospital, dedicated to caring for women affected by FGM. As of 2013 the clinic was seeing around 300 women a year and performing two defibulation operations a week, which involves opening a vagina sewn shut as a result of FGM Type III.
Momoh worked as a temporary adviser to the World Health Organization in 1999 and represented the UK at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2001. From around 2007 she worked as a public-health specialist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, before retiring in 2017. Momoh also runs Global Comfort Ltd., a private consultancy. She was included in 2014 in the London Evening Standard's list of 1000 most influential people in London.
Awards
Momoh was awarded an MBE for services to women's healthcare in 2008, and an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University, also in 2008. In 2011 she won a Gathering of Africa's Best (GAB) award. She was chosen as 2015 Alumna of the Year by King's College London, and in 2016 she was awarded a fellowship by the Royal College of Midwives.
2017 complaint
The Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed in September 2017 that it had received a complaint about Momoh. A BBC Newsnight investigation that month suggested that the weight given by the authorities in the UK to the physical examination of girls for FGM was causing trauma to children who had not in fact experienced FGM. Families were fearful of being accused and split up. Newsight raised questions about the examination of at least five children by Momoh. Since 2012 the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has required that child-abuse victims be examined by specialist doctors. Newsnight also reported that Momoh had been referring to herself as "Dr", although her doctorate is an honorary one, not a medical degree, and that during a 2014 court case, the judge, James Munby, had criticized her evidence as unreliable.
Momoh responded that she had done nothing wrong and had nothing to hide. Nimco Ali, an anti-FGM activist, told The Times: "Comfort has led work to end FGM for over 30 years and has enriched the lives of countless women and girls. Attempts at character assassination of such a great woman [are] shameful."