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Objectives This research documents the experiences of people with Somali heritage with female genital mutilation (FGM)-safeguarding services in healthcare and whether such services are considered appropriate by the people who encounter them. Design Six focus groups conducted with ethnic Somalis living in Bristol, during the summer of 2018, divided by gender and whether people had experienced FGMsafeguarding as adults or children. Setting Participants experienced FGM-safeguarding in primary and secondary care. Participants 30 people (21 women and 9 men), identified through local organisations or snowball sampling. All participants were of Somali heritage and aged over 18. Results Government priorities to support those who have experienced female genital cutting/mutilation (FGC/M) are being undermined by their own approaches to protect those considered at risk. Participants argued that approaches to FGM-safeguarding were based on outdated stereotypes and inaccurate evidence which encouraged health and other service providers to see every Somali parent as a potential perpetrator of FGC/M. Female participants described providers in a range of healthcare settings, including Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E), antenatal care and general practice, as ‘fixated’ with FGC/M, who ignored both their health needs and their experience as victims. Participants felt stigmatised and traumatised by their experience. This undermined their trust in health services, producing a reticence to seek care, treatment delays and reliance on alternative sources of care. Associated recommendations include developing more accurate evidence of risk, more appropriate education for healthcare providers and more collaborative approaches to FGM-safeguarding. Conclusion All the participants involved in this study are committed to the eradication of FGC/M. But the statutory approaches currently adopted to enable this are considered ill-conceived, unnecessarily heavy-handed and ultimately detrimental to this. Recognizing these common aims can enable the development of services better able to protect and support those at risk of FGC/M in ways which are culturally competent and sensitive [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about a study which analyzes the effects of racism on health. The findings of this study suggest that, independent of the effects of gender, age, and household social class, being worried about being a victim of racial harassment could have an important impact on one's health experience. The measures adopted here are comparatively crude; there may be better ways to measure both aspects of racism and socioeconomic status and the cross sectional nature of the data means that it is impossible to determine the direction of any causality. But these findings provide further evidence that there is an association that requires further exploration.