Congratulations to the Acton African Well Woman Centre

A local community group that cares for woman suffering with female genital mutilation (often abbreviated to FGM) has been honoured by the Guardian Public Services Awards.

The awards are given for innovation and excellence in the public sector, and are run by the Guardian newspaper and the recruitment agency Hays.

The Acton African Well Woman Centre has been given the Innovation and Progress - Diversity and Equality award for its work in supporting Acton's Somalian community. Somalia is one of world's centres of FGM, and many female immigrants from there settling in Acton are afflicted with it. The project was set up in Central Middlesex Hospital in order to provide these women with female doctors and an opportunity to avoid long waiting times to have what is usually a simple 30-minute reversal procedure.

So far, 160 women at the project have had the procedure to reverse the most brutal forms of FGM, and the project has also aided Queen Charlotte's Hospital in amending their procedures to help pregnant women with FGM complications.

The awards were announced at a ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel in Park Lane on 22 November.

November 23, 2011