“It’s very hard not to feel extremely happy when someone comes and says that you’ve really changed her life”
We talked to consultant Reeba Oliver about the work she been doing since opening a walk-in FGM clinic in the local community and about being recently receiving two awards recognising the outstanding work she’s been doing.
Reeba Oliver has been working as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist consultant at Whipps Cross since 2015 but in 2019 she embarked on a new project following her passion for helping other women.
She worked developing programmes to address the complex physical and emotional needs of women who’ve suffered Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and in 2019 she opened the first UK community-based walk-in clinic for women affected by this illegal practice. This is also one of the national NHS pilots.
“I started a service for women with gynaecological problems, not pregnant but experiencing these issues, as a walk in service, so anybody that have experience any of these problems could come and see us.
"That received support from a local CCG because of the work we were doing with this women, who were very frighten and that was something that the CCG was most impressed about because in the past it wasn’t easy to reach out to this women. These women would come to the clinic, they would open up and we would have a positive and honest conversation.
"After the launch of this service, we had an interest from everyone including the NHS, the police. It was a multidisciplinary approach and all sectors were involved.”
Once the clinic opened, women started using the service and it started to get a good reputation within the community and women that have used the service would recommend it to relatives or friends that are experiencing the same problem.
“It’s very humbling to see all of these women turning up and said that they would be more than happy to spread the word and talk to other people about the service and it’s very humbling to hear their story, how they struggled for years and years to found and to access a service like this.”
Working overseas to fight FGM
Reeba has also been working overseas with countries where the FGM practice is very common.
She recently set up online meetings with a group of Somali doctors who are very interested in this issue, specially in a country with a very high number of women suffering from this practice.
She is also currently working with the British Embassy in New Guinea with the ambassador to set up a service in the country as they also have a very high incidence in terms of cases.
“We’ve had a few issues in the process because doctors, although they don’t support or agree with this process, they don’t stop the process, they don’t do anything against it. It’s very complicated situation there and I was nearly hitting a breakthrough as there was a team that was very interested in working with us but a new government in New Guinea took over and they have been an obstacle moving forward with this over there.”
“Here in the UK we have a lot of guidance and tools that other countries can use. We have the legislation and things we can share and that’s what I think the future would be.”
“The issue with FGM is that we need to spread the word where the practice happens.”
Despite the challenges that the pandemic has presented, Reeba has been able to do online consultations with patients, even with overseas patients that live in Somalia.
Recognition for her outstanding work
Over the past couple of years, Reeba has been recognised by her former alma matter, the University of Surrey, and also by Imperial College London where she completed a PhD in Clinical Medical Research.
In 2020 the University of Surrey awarded her with the Outstanding Contribution to Society Award in the Vice-Chancellor’s Alumni Awards. This was in recognition for her work in creating services for women suffering from violence and FGM.
In early January 2022 she won the Emerging Alumni Leader Award by Imperial College London.
“It’s very rewarding to receive these recognitions to a work that is very important and it also made me and my team feel recognised for the work we’ve done so far. This was also another platform to publicise the service and give it more prominence.”
About the most rewarding thing from her work fighting FGM Reeba said:
“The thing that keep us all going when we are really tired, because we have the pandemic as well, is the feedback from our patients. It’s very hard not to feel extremely happy when someone comes and says ‘you really changed my life’. So then when you hear these things you tell yourself that this is why you signed up to become a doctor.”
Reeba’s ultimate dream is that anyone in any country, particularly children who know they are going to have FGM done, have access to information and access support to deal with this terrible practice.
“My dream would be to develop a hub where there’s links to the Crown Prosection Service (CPS) and the police, like an anti FGM hub where you give clinical care but also spread the word where information is available. And also to work together with the government, the CPS and police to make sure we can control the practice overseas to some degree so we can empower those governments to rule out this practice. If we can have a hub like that, that would be amazing.”