Interesting snippet
Jane
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Scott-Samuel" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 04, 2006 2:22 PM
Subject: Sex determination and female foeticide
> Dear all,
> I thought you might be interested to see this electronic
> response, which I have just published on the BMJ website, to the
> news article:
>
> Ganapati Mudur. Doctors in India prosecuted for sex
> determination, but few convicted. BMJ 2006; 332: 257 (Feb 4)
>
> Extract from article, plus electronic responses, at
> http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/extract/332/7536/257-c
>
> Best wishes, Alex
>
>
> Victim-blaming India's women is not the answer Alex Scott-Samuel
> 2 March 2006
>
> Letting doctors off the hook or victim-blaming pregnant women is
> not the answer to this problem. While it is of course true that
> parents encourage doctors to collude in sex determination and
> female foeticide, the root causes are of course deeply
> entrenched patriarchal values and practices. Female foeticide
> and infanticide in India and China are merely the most visible
> extremes in the globally endemic patriarchal societies which we
> all in inhabit. We will only effectively address these
> disgusting practices when there is leadership from international
> bodies like the UN and the World Health Organisation in giving
> the highest priority - equivalent to their responses to acts of
> genocide - to eliminating them.
>
> All governments should therefore put pressure on these and other
> international bodies to urgently address this issue. There are
> however other more "downstream" ways in which the problems
> should be addressed. First, doctors should not just be
> prosecuted, they should be automatically removed from the
> medical register when found guilty of sex determination
> resulting in foeticide; the same should apply to all other
> health professionals involved in this practice. Secondly, a
> highly effective approach to this issue would be for the Indian
> government to give financial benefits to all women giving birth
> to female children. Such benefits should be at a meaningful
> level, and countries which currently provide overseas aid should
> be encouraged to contribute funding to the Indian government, in
> order to support the ending of this practice. Not only would the
> financial benefits help poor parents, they would also send out
> the message that the Indian government is serious about tackling
> this issue and about saving the lives of India's beleaguered
> daughters.
>
> ****************************************************************************
>
> Dr Alex Scott-Samuel
> EQUAL (Equity in Health Research and Development Unit)
> Division of Public Health
> University of Liverpool
> Whelan Building
> Quadrangle
> Liverpool
> L69 3GB
>
> Tel (+44)151-794-5569
> Fax (+44)151-794-5588
>
> http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~alexss
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
> ****************************************************************************
|