WASHINGTON - The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is still widespread in many African countries despite intensified efforts to fight the procedure, said U.S. officials and women’s rights activists Friday, the first anniversary of the International Day of Zero Tolerance against FGM.

The procedure, which some experts say dates back 5,000 years, can cause massive and fatal bleeding to women. It can also lead to future chronic infections, sterility and serious complications in childbirth. Performed mainly in Africa but also in some Asian and Middle Eastern nations, FGM is often practiced without anesthetic on infants and girls by medically unqualified persons.

According to a report distributed to journalists here, parents are increasingly subjecting infants and young girls — “from the first few weeks of life to age two or three” — to genital cutting. Activists say those parents believe the practice prevents their daughters from being unfaithful to their future husbands and, in some communities, guarantees that women will find husbands.

Some two million girls face the practice every year, while an estimated 130 million girls and women worldwide have undergone genital cutting.

The report, the highlights of which were distributed at a press conference, says that more than 7 in 10 women have undergone the procedure in African countries like Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Mali, Egypt and Guinea. The report says that in some countries where the practice is deeply rooted, like Eritrea and Sudan, many women are subjected to infibulation, an extreme form of circumcision that involves cutting more of the genitalia than just the clitoris, and then sewing the two sides of the vulva almost completely closed.

RAINBO, a group based in London, is seeking funding from the World Bank, the European Commission and national governments, she added.

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