Doctor who led FGM fight shares Nelson Mandela humanitarian prize – The National

Doctor who led FGM fight shares Nelson Mandela humanitarian prize – The National

Morissanda Kouyate named prestigious UN award's co-laureate alongside human rights champion Marianna Vardinoyannis

















Dr Kouyate stands with Nigerien women dressed in traditional clothing Dr Kouyate/The National







Morissanda Kouyate was not long out of medical school and working in a rural clinic in Guinea when five women burst in carrying two young girls in their arms.



The 12-year-old twins were in a critical condition from blood loss after someone in the town had performed female circumcision on them.



The twins' deaths that day spurred a shocked Dr Kouyate, who had never encountered female genital mutilation (FGM) before, to devote his life to ending the centuries-old practice.



For his role in promoting a world free of violence against women and girls in Africa, he was named on Friday as the 2020 recipient of the UN's Nelson Mandela Prize alongside co-laureate Marianna Vardinoyannis, a Greek philanthropist and world advocate for human rights and children's welfare.



It was in 1983 that Dr Kouyate and his medical team did all they could to save the twins, with his wife even donating blood, but the girls, Hassanatou and Housseynatou, were unable to survive the trauma.