According to a 2005 World Health Organization estimate, about 97.9% of Somalia's women and girls underwent female genital mutilation, a pre-marital custom mainly endemic to Northeast Africa and parts of the Near East. Encouraged by women in the community, it is primarily intended to deter promiscuity and to offer protection from assault. By 2013, UNICEF in conjunction with the Somali authorities reported that the prevalence rate among 1- to 14-year-old girls in the autonomous northern Puntland and Somaliland regions had dropped to 25% following a social and religious awareness campaign. Article 15 of the Federal Constitution also officially prohibits the practice.