The first clinic in Britain to treat children victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) will open in London next month.
Treatment for young girls will be provided at University College London, where doctors will also help police identify victims.
FGM includes procedures that remove or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Dangers include severe bleeding, problems urinating, infections, infertility, mental health problems, complications in childbirth and increased risk of death for newborns.
The practice has been illegal in the UK since 1985 but the first prosecutions, which are currently ongoing, were not until this year.
In 2008 Project Azure was launched to help girls in Waltham Forest after police claimed that 1,000 girls in the borough were at risk from FGM.
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