181744 Female Feticide in India: A critical public health issue

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Vasu Singh, MD, MPH , Department of Family Medicine, St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, PA
Kuldeep S. Dhatwalia, MS , Additional Director General, All India Radio., Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India, New Delhi, India
Neha Singh, Medical Student , Faizabad University, Lucknow, India
Abstact: The word feticide means killing of the fetus or unborn child. This is a heinous crime being practiced in India for many years. This evil practice is the new face of earlier prevalent female infanticide, which means the killing of female infants. There are various social and cultural reasons to conduct female feticide. Misuse of technology like ultrasonography has aggravated the problem. The repercussions of female feticide have led to gender inequality and alarming female to male ratio in India. We need a strong public health initiative to abolish this barbaric practice. The Indian government has taken many steps and initiatives to fight the problem. We will discuss a media campaign to educate people and empower them. The strengths, weaknesses and problems of the initiative will be part of our discussion.

Conclusions: Female feticide is a shameful practice in 21st century. Empowering the Indian masses against this practice can help to abolish it.

Learning Objectives:
The audience will be able to: 1. Learn about the practice of feticide. 2. Learn about the implications of the feticide. 3. Learn about the role of education to prevent female feticide.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been involved in many public health initiatives in India. Female feticide is my area of interest. I was involved in planning and coordinating the female feticide prevention campaign.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Infant and Child Health Poster Session-2
See more of: Maternal and Child Health