LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Booming population growth in regions where child marriage and female genital mutilation are common threatens to undermine progress on tackling both abuses, which blight the lives of hundreds of millions of girls, experts say.

The number of girls mutilated is likely to soar and there will be no decline in child marriage unless the world dramatically scales up action, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said ahead of an international summit on FGM and child marriage on Tuesday.