SBC: Birth

Showing posts with label Birth. Show all posts

Mar 31, 2013

Philippines - Filipino Catholics Raise Birth Control Stakes

Church now going after lawmakers personally at the ballot box

The Catholic Church in the Philippines has raised the stakes in its fight against the historic birth control bill passed in December by the legislature, seeking to use the ballot box in May 13 general elections to go directly after lawmakers who voted for the measure.

The midterm election will see 12 senators and 229 members of the House of Representatives as well as governors, provincial legislatures and mayors facing the voters. The church's decision to publicly oppose those who voted for the reproductive health act, as it is known, may be the church's biggest gamble of its influence in modern history.

"The results of the May 2013 election will likely illustrate to what extent the Catholic Church's political agenda resonates with both voters and politicians," according to a subscription-only report by the Manila-based country risk firm Pacific Strategies & Assessments. "While the outcome of the elections are unlikely to impact the church's popularity, it could affect the church's political agenda."

Victories by pro-birth control candidates, the report said, could suggest a decline in church influence and encourage politicians to push for passage of legislation the religious body opposes, such as a proposed divorce law that has been stalled in the legislature for decades. The Philippines is the only country in the world that hasn't legalized divorce.

Conversely, if the church holds sway and drives lawmakers from office, other legislation proposed by President Benigno S. Aquino III including land reform and the regulation of the mining industry could be affected negatively.

The Conference of Bishops, the church's ruling body, has already mounted an all-out legal campaign against the reproductive health act, which Aquino signed into law in January. Ten different petitions have been filed with the Supreme Court by allies of the church to attempt to stop the law from going in effect. The court, on March 19, voted to delay implementation of the measure until oral arguments are held on June 14.

The law mandates that government health centers provide free access to nearly all contraceptives including condoms, IUDs and other devices to everyone. It also makes sexual education compulsory in public schools.

The electoral focus of the church's campaign so far has been the city of Bacolod, with 511,000 residents, the capital of Negros Occidental Province in the Western Visayas Region. In February the Bacolod Diocese posted a giant tarpaulin in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral, listing the names of lawmakers who had voted for the bill and calling them "Team Buhay," or "Team Death." Lawmakers who voted against it were identified as "Team Patay," or "Team Life."

At least 60 churches in the diocese have posted smaller Team Patay posters in the effort to oust lawmakers who voted for the legislation. Political observers have described the effort by the church as unprecedented in Philippine politics. In the past the church has never campaigned against candidates by name, instead listing the traits voters should look for in candidates.

The Bacolod campaign almost immediately ran into heavy going from a group calling itself "Team Tatay," or "team father," identifying five Bacolod priests including three bishops, an archbishop, a retired bishop and one priest who allegedly have sired children. Married priests have long been a widely suspected phenomenon in the Philippines. Indeed, Team Tatay said it would unmask further married priests if the Team Patay campaign continues.

Undeterred, another five dioceses are said to be planning to join the Bacolod campaign. According to the news site Rappler, they are in Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Bulacan, Laguna and Batangas, three of them among the country's most populous provinces.

The church's influence in the past played a major role in ousting the strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, when he was forced to flee the country in the so-called People Power revolution which brought millions of Filipinos to the streets to protest his policies. The church also played a major role in driving Joseph Estrada from power in 2001 after he was accused of corruption and an impeachment campaign against him failed.

However, the church's gamble in the May elections could be chancy. Although 81 percent of Filipinos classify themselves as Catholics, as many as seven of 10 polled indicated they supported the passage of the reproductive health act, according to Rom Dongeto, the executive director of Philippine Legislators' Committee for Population and Development (PLCPD), an NGO that is one of the strongest proponents of the law. Half of Filipinos who marry today do so in civil ceremonies, or don't wed at all, which fits with statistics that show 20 percent of the country's births are out of wedlock.

It might be ominous for the church that the Conference of Bishops last year mounted an all-out campaign when it became clear that Aquino would attempt to push through its passage, with parish priests all across the country denouncing the measure from the pulpit on a weekly basis.

Apparently the flock didn't get the message. They certainly didn't turn on the President. Despite the church's campaign, Aquino pushed the bill through with relative ease. And, despite threats - not carried out - by the church to excommunicate the president, he remains extremely popular with the voters. In the latest Pulse Asia survey, his overall rating climbed from 66 percent in January to 68 percent today, with his undecided rating falling by four points. Getting their parishioners to vote to drive his political allies from office may be more difficult than church leaders think.

http://www.asiasentinel.com

Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Health care and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN 's area. We are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.

Dec 18, 2012

Philippines - In Birth Control Bill, a Major Aquino Triumph

Passage is only the start. Now the legislation must be implemented

The passage last night by the Philippine legislature of a long-stalled birth control bill represents arguably President Benigno S.Aquino's biggest triumph in his two and a half year reign at the head of the government in Manila.

The subject of a bitter, no-holds-barred rear-guard action on the part of the Catholic Church through the Philippine Conference of Bishops, the reproductive health measure, as it is called, has been 14 years in the making. The House of Representatives passed the bill on a healthy 133-79 margin, the Senate by a 13-8 vote.

The law requires the government to provide contraceptives, information on modern family planning methods at public health centers and mandates a comprehensive reproductive health curriculum in schools. To say it is badly needed is an understatement. According to the United Nations Population Fund, half of the 3.4 million pregnancies that occur in the Philippines every year are unintended while a third are aborted, "often in clandestine, unsafe, and unsanitary procedures by nonprofessionals," according to Human Rights Watch, despite the fact that abortion is illegal.

When Aquino made the measure a priority, Bishop Nereo Odchimar, the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said Aquino, a Catholic, could face excommunication. Despite that, Aquino said he wouldn't change his position. After vacillating earlier during his presidential term, on Dec. 13, increasingly sure of his presidential clout, Aquino put it on the fast track for passage after a long series of parliamentary maneuvers. Accordingly, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the chamber would soon pass its version of the bill over his own objections.

"My reading is that the pro-RH has the numbers," Enrile said in an interview before the vote over local television."It looks like [it's going to be approved]. It might be very close." In the end, it wasn't The two houses must now reconcile their versions before the bill becomes law.

The bill must be approved by this week before the Congress recesses for the holiday season.

The early betting on Aquino when he was elected to the nation's highest office in July 2010 was that he wouldn't make too many waves, and the reproductive health bill was one of the biggest wavemakers of all. A largely lackluster lawmaker for 12 years in the house of Representatives and the Senate, he was regarded as his mother's son-- Corazon Aquino, who was elected president in the wake of her husband's assassination. Cory was regarded as honest but largely ineffective as president, enduring a long series of attempted coups.

However, the president has pushed through a respectable series of measures, decisions and orders, including another historic achievement, the signing of a peace agreement with the Islamic Moro Islamic Liberation Front in October after 40 years of bloodshed that have taken an estimated 150,000 lives and stunted the economic growth of the region.

The president is also basking in a spectacular performance approval rating of +78 percent according to Pulse Asia, a respected polling firm, stemming partly from a strong economy built on healthy inward remittances from the estimated 9 million Filipinos working overseas, plus the country's offshore business processing operations, which recently surpassed India?s to become the world?s biggest such operations. The economy grew by 7.1 percent in the third quarter, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board. It was the fastest economic expansion in Asean, with consumer spending healthy and inflation well in check.

While corruption remains a serious issue, the administration?s actions in bringing transparency to the government's bid process in particular have endeared the country to the international investing community.

However, while the president has favorable economic winds at his back and a strong approval rating on corruption, having ousted Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, both allies of former president Gloria Aquino, whom he has sought to jail, he has also been helped by the growing impression of a Catholic Church that is not only out of step with its parishioners but outright corrupt.

While 81 percent of the people identify themselves as Catholic, according to the International Religious Freedom Report 2004 by the U S State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, half of those who marry do so outside of their faith in civil ceremonies, or don't wed at all, which fits with statistics that show 20 percent of the country?s births are out of wedlock. A sizeable number of priests themselves are believed to be married, in violation of their vows of chastity.

The Filipino church has faced other challenges to its image. The bishops were hit by a major scandal two years ago in the so-called 'Pajaros for Priests' episode in which members of the church hierarchy received SUVs from disgraced former President Arroyo and paid her back by supporting congressmen who thwarted impeachment bids against her.

Also, earlier this year, the Rev. Cristobal Garcia, one of the most prominent faces of the church in Cebu, was exposed as having been expelled by the Dominican order in Los Angeles after a nun told police an altar boy had been found in his bed in the rectory. Having fled back to the Philippines, Garcia has since been named a monsignor at the Society of the Angel of Peace in a village outside Cebu, where he oversees a chapel, a children's Sunday school program and a squad of altar boys.

The fact is that contraceptive devices are used in the Philippines, but only by about 23 percent of the people, and mostly by the more prosperous classes. Poorer families mostly still have several children, giving the Philippines the highest fertility rate in Asia east of Afghanistan-- an average of 3.1 births per woman of fertile age. High population growth -- 35 percent of the population is under 15-- is often cited as the reason why per capita income growth in the Philippine has until recently lagged far behind that of neighboring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.

The question is what roadblocks will be put in the way of the legislation once passed. Reproductive health programs must be designed and implemented in the nation's schools and government health facilities have to be provided with information for women on birth control, a big job in a nation whose population is veering out of control at 96 million and growing.

Enrile said the constitutionality could be questioned for violation of the protection of human life. The vast number of Catholic judges in the country probably guarantee such a constitutional challenge although the makeup of the high court, which more and more is in Aquino?s hands with Corona's ouster and the appointment by Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno. The campaign to put contraceptives in the hands of those who need them most is just beginning.

http://www.asiasentinel.com

Jun 8, 2012

North Korea - In autocratic NKorea, inequality assigned at birth

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the supposed workers’ paradise of North Korea, inequality is assigned at birth, a study by a U.S.-based human rights group says.

Education, job, access to scarce food and health care, and even whom you marry all hinge on how loyal your ancestors are viewed to have been to the Kim dynasty that took power six decades ago.

The study released Wednesday by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea says all adults in the socialist state are categorized as one of three classes: loyal, wavering or hostile.

The nongovernment human rights group says it amounts to a caste system.

Despite the emergence of informal markets since the late 1990s challenging state control, the study says the class system persists and is behind the discrimination and abuses faced by the lowest echelons of the North’s closed society.

“Throughout its 64-year existence, the Kim regime has claimed that North Korea is an egalitarian workers’ paradise,” said the committee’s executive director, Greg Scarlatoiu. “Yet, inequality is assigned at birth, perpetuated throughout a person’s lifetime and cruelly enforced by those in power to benefit themselves and their supporters.”

The North Korean government denies such a discriminatory class system exists.

The study, titled “Marked for Life,” is based on interviews with 75 North Korean defectors, including as recently as 2011. It also cites a 1993 manual issued by North Korea’s Ministry of Public Security to guide its officials on how to investigate a citizen’s socio-political classification, or “songbun,” which translates in Korean as “ingredients.”

Lee Sung-min, a North Korean defector living in Seoul, said in an interview with The Associated Press that because his late grandfather was accused of collaborating with the Japanese during the 35 years Japan ruled South Korea as a colony, his family was stigmatized by North Korean authorities and he was blocked from joining the Workers’ Party or entering the school he wanted to attend.

“No one is free from songbun in North Korea,” Lee said.

The study says the ministry maintains a file on everyone from the age of 17 that is updated every two years.

Numerous defectors’ interviews show that those who are young when they leave North Korea see songbun as decreasingly important, while older defectors say songbun still matters, the report said.

The songbun system has its origins in social class restructuring enforced by the North’s communist founders, led by Kim Il Sung, that began even before the state’s formal creation in 1948, to elevate peasants and laborers at the expense of landlords, businessmen and religious leaders.

Those considered most loyal had fought alongside Kim against Japanese colonialists and then against U.S.-backed forces in the 1950-53 Korean War. Those deemed hostile collaborated with the enemy or had family members who fled to South Korea.

Moving up a songbun category is rare and requires a lifetime of devotion to the Kim family regime and ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. But songbun can be downgraded for political or criminal offenses or failing to cooperate with authorities.

When an individual is sentenced to the North’s gulag of political prison camps — estimated to hold 150,000-200,000 people — family members are considered guilty by association and generally accompany them, the study says.

Today the loyal class, which makes up about a quarter of the 24 million population, still dominates the powerful military and the Workers’ Party. They alone are entitled to live in the relatively prosperous capital Pyongyang and monopolize the prestige universities and best jobs, the study says.

Marrying someone with poor songbun likely would exclude that individual from party membership, causing severe consequences for employment opportunities and quality of life, it says.

Many in the hostile class inhabit the most impoverished northeastern provinces, often in isolated mountain villages where they perform hard labor at mines and farms. They have been most vulnerable to failures since the 1990s in North Korea’s public food distribution system and resulting malnutrition.

Roberta Cohen, co-chairman of the rights group, says money, bribery and corruption recently have begun to erode the songbun system because of the emergence of informal markets and the scope for paying officials for favors. But she said songbun’s main elements remain in place, “guaranteed by a complete absence of political freedom.”

The study says a slang has developed around the songbun system, wherein the loyal class are referred to as “tomatoes” that are red on both the inside and outside, so are good socialists. Those of the wavering class are “apples” that are only red on the outside, and the hostile class is known as “grapes” — considered politically unredeemable.

There’s no sign that new ruler Kim Jong Un, the third in the dynasty, will change the policy. The study concludes that would be a direct threat to the North Korean elite and could undermine his consolidation of power.

Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

Apr 3, 2012

France - Cheap, safe device helps avoid premature birth

PARIS: A simple low-cost silicon ring can slash the risk of premature birth, a major cause of death in newborns and health problems in adult life, according to a trial reported on Tuesday by The Lancet.

Spanish doctors tested the 38 euro ($49.50) device, known as a pessary, on women in their last three months of pregnancy who had cervical shortening, a condition that weakens the pelvic floor and leads to pre-term birth.

The pessary is designed to strengthen the cervix -- the lower end of the uterus that leads to the vagina -- so that it can cope with the extra weight of the final weeks of pregnancy.

Silicon pessaries have been used over the past 50 years as one of several methods to prevent pre-term births.

But their effectiveness has been debated, and this was the first time the device had been investigated in a randomised trial.

Six percent of women who were fitted with the pessary gave birth prematurely, compared to 27 percent of counterparts who did not have the device, according to the study.

The so-called PECEP trial recruited 15,000 women who underwent ultrasound examination in five hospitals when they were in between 20 and 23 weeks of pregnancy.

Of these, 380 had cervical shortening -- defined as a having a cervix whose length was 25mm (0.98 inches) or less -- and were randomly assigned to one of two groups, each comprising 190 women.

In the pessary group, 12 had a baby before 34 weeks of pregnancy, while the number in the non-pessary group was 51.

No side effects were reported in the pessary group, and 95 percent of its participants said they would recommend the treatment for others.

"Placement of a pessary is an affordable procedure, non-invasive and easy to insert and remove as required," said lead researcher Maria Goya, an obstetrician at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona.

- AFP/al

Business & Investment Opportunities

YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

Mar 3, 2012

UK - Delivery Kits for Home Birth May Up Survival

Using clean delivery kits during home births -- and encouraging other clean delivery practices -- could help reduce neonatal deaths in rural areas with limited access to healthcare, an analysis of South Asian studies showed.

The kits -- which included soap, a razor for cutting the umbilical cord, clean string for tying the cord, and a plastic sheet -- were associated with 48% lower odds of the newborn dying within 28 days (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.68), according to Nadine Seward, MSc, of University College London, and colleagues.

Also, independent of the use of a kit, using more clean delivery practices -- including handwashing, use of a sterilized blade, use of boiled thread, and use of a plastic sheet -- was associated with a reduction in neonatal mortality, the researchers reported online in PLoS Medicine.

"Further research should explore the context of kit use in order to develop and test locally appropriate promotion strategies, as well as examine the potential of kits to improve neonatal survival in the context of increasing institutional delivery rates," they wrote.

Each year, an estimated 3.3 million newborns around the world die within a month, nearly all of whom are born in low- and middle-income countries. Up to 15% of the deaths are related to sepsis.

Although childhood mortality rates have dropped over the past few decades in South Asia, rates remain high in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, where most deliveries occur at home because of limited access to formal care and institutional deliveries.

One strategy to deal with high rates of neonatal mortality in these areas is the use of clean delivery kits and other clean delivery practices.

To evaluate the kits' effectiveness, Seward and colleagues analyzed data from three cluster-randomized controlled trials that were completed in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The analysis included 19,754 home births from the control arms of the trials.

In addition to the basic kit elements, the kits in Nepal also included a plastic disc against which the umbilical cord could be cut.

Based on interviews with the mothers, the kits were used in 18.4% of deliveries in India and Bangladesh and 5.7% of those in Nepal. Although clean delivery practices were more likely to be used when the kits were used, the kits did not guarantee use of the practices.

The association between kit use and reduced neonatal mortality remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders and did not differ between the three study sites.

Data from India indicated that kit use was associated with reduction in mortality from sepsis (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.65) and from prematurity and birth asphyxia (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.76).

Using a plastic sheet during delivery, a boiled blade to cut the umbilical cord, a boiled thread to tie the cord, and antiseptic to clean the cord were each associated with lower neonatal mortality rates, regardless of the use of a clean delivery kit.

For four specific clean delivery practices -- hand washing, use of a sterilized blade, use of a boiled thread, and use of a plastic sheet -- each additional practice used was associated with a 16% decrease in neonatal mortality (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.92).

The kits were inexpensive; at the time of the trials -- from 2000 to 2008 -- the costs of a kit ranged from $0.27 to $0.44 in U.S. money.

But, the authors noted, "while the kit can be considered a low-cost intervention, there have been no studies on willingness to pay for kits, and these costs may still be prohibitive for the poorest women."

Seward and colleagues noted that the study was limited by the possibility of residual confounding, recall bias, and social desirability bias.

Todd Neale

MedPage Today

Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Business & Investment Opportunities

YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.

Feb 28, 2012

USA - US recalls India-made birth control pills

WASHINGTON: A batch of birth control pills manufactured in India for US distribution has been recalled due to a packaging error that could make the pills ineffective, US health authorities said on Monday.

Seven lots of generic norgestimate and ethinyl estradiol tablets were recalled by Glenmark Generics Inc. USA, the US Food and Drug Administration said.

The company said the tablets were manufactured and packaged by Glenmark Generics Ltd. India. and distributed to wholesalers and retail pharmacies across the United States between September 21, 2011 and December 30, 2011.

"As a result of this packaging error, the daily regimen for these oral contraceptives may be incorrect and could leave women without adequate contraception, and at risk for unintended pregnancy," Glenmark said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how many packets were affected by the error, which rotated some of the pills by 180 degrees out of the usual sequential order and left the lot number and expiry date visible only on the outer pouch.

"Any blister for which the lot number and expiry date is not visible is subject to recall," Glenmark added in a statement.

Doctors urged women who may have been taking the pills to immediately begin using a non-hormonal form of contraception, inform their health care provider immediately and take a pregnancy test if they have any symptoms of pregnancy.

"This is extremely disturbing," said Steven Goldstein, an obstetrician-gynaecologist at New York University Langone Medical Centre and Professor at the NYU School of Medicine, adding the recall raised new concerns about the safety of foreign-made generics.

"This problem with generics manufactured outside of the USA is of great concern to me as a clinician. I often allow and encourage patients to try generics as long as they do not have nuisance side effects however I have always assumed them of equal quality control to the branded products."

Glenmark Generics has operated its manufacturing plant in India since 2003.

The recall is the third to affect US consumers in the past six months involving contraceptives.

On February 1, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recalled one million packets of birth control pills over a similar packaging error, though those pills were manufactured in the United States.

A separate recall was issued in September 2011 by the pharmaceutical company Qualitest in Alabama, due to packaging errors that affected 1.4 million packets of birth control pills distributed in 2011.

-AFP/ac

Business & Investment Opportunities

Jan 24, 2012

China - Chinese new year: first the 'tiger mother' now the 'dragon baby'

Hospitals across Asia with large ethnic-Chinese populations – and those in China especially – are bracing for a baby boom in the Year of the Dragon which began on Monday.

The dragon is the most auspicious sign in the Chinese zodiac as it is the only year represented by a mythical character, rather than an animal, as in the eleven others of the dozen-year cycle.

The symbol of royalty, it is thought by superstitious ethnic Chinese to be the bringer of wealth, wisdom, courage and power, with the result many couples will plan that their offspring be born during the lunar year.

Couples are believed to have until about May 2 to conceive in order that their child will be born before the Year of the Dragon draws to a close next February 9.

But many couples got a head-start. Beds in the Chinese capital's Maternity Hospital are fully booked until August and nannies in Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin have hiked their rates.

In predominantly ethnic-Chinese Singapore the government is hoping a boom can rescue its dramatically declining fertility rates.

In the most recent years of the dragon in 1988 and 2000 the numbers of babies born in the city state spiked by 10 per cent, in stark contrast to the declining birth rate during the years in between.

In 2010 the Singapore fertility rate fell to 1.15 per female, way below the 2.1 needed to replace the population, to the dismay of the prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"I fervently hope that this will be a big 'dragon' year for babies," he said. "This is critical to preserve a Singapore core in our society. We don't want to rely more and more heavily on immigration, nor do we want to see our population shrinking year by year."

By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok

The Telegraph

Business & Investment Opportunities

Jan 20, 2012

Asia - Much of Asia expects birth jump in Year of Dragon

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, but you wouldn't know that from visiting the obstetrics department at Taiwan Adventist Hospital.

The hallways were abuzz this week with dozens of women lined up for ultrasound checks and other appointments with obstetricians.

It's not just a baby boom. It's a dragon baby boom.

The Year of the Dragon begins Monday, and the Chinese believe that babies born in this iteration of the 12-year Zodiac cycle are gifted with prodigious quantities of luck and strength. In ancient times the dragon was a symbol reserved for the Chinese emperor, and it is considered to be an extremely auspicious sign.

"We haven't had a scene like this in years," said hospital official Hung Tzu-chu.

A second child had not been in the plans for Austin Tseng, a 32-year-old office worker, but she said at the hospital in downtown Tapei that she is eagerly awaiting the birth.

"I had thought one child was enough, but then comes the Year of the Dragon and I'm happy to have another one," Tseng said after an ultrasound check on her 20-week-old fetus.

Officials expect a baby boom not only in China and Taiwan, but in other Asian countries and territories that observe the New Year festival, including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau.

Most have extremely low birth rates, reflecting a preference among young couples in these prosperous or rapidly developing societies to choose quality of life and career advancement over the responsibilities of child rearing.

But this Year of the Dragon looks to be breaking the mold. A poll in Hong Kong showed that 70 percent of couples there wanted children born under the dragon sign, while South Korea, Vietnam and China all report similar enthusiasm about dragon-year childbearing.

In Taiwan, Year of the Dragon childbearing fever is in full swing, with local banks selling silver and gold coins engraved with the dragon symbol. Bank officials believe that many are buying them for their own yet-to-be born dragon year babies or for those of expecting friends and relatives.

In the past, "many women wanted to keep their quality of life and thought child-rearing was too much of a burden to bear," said Wu Mei-ying, an interior ministry official charged with child care. "But with people all around them talking about bearing dragon sons and daughters, they are suddenly caught up in the baby craze."

The Year of the Dragon comes as a godsend for Taiwanese officials, who for the past decade have been trying to increase the island's low fertility rate: less than one child for every Taiwanese woman of childbearing age in 2010. In the 1950s, when Taiwan was a primarily agricultural society, women gave birth to an average of seven children.

The Year of the Dragon has long proved to be an impetus for births. In 2000, the last dragon year, the rate increased to 1.7 children per Taiwanese woman of childbearing age from 1.5 the previous year.

Taiwan has tried to encourage families with cash incentives that while well intentioned, appear to do little to dent the cost of education and other child rearing outlays. Besides a $100 monthly child care stipend, a Taiwanese woman can receive $330 from the government for delivering her first baby, double that for the second and triple for the third.

Interior Minister Chiang Yi-hua thinks that government encouragement can help boost the birthrate to 1.2 babies per fertile woman not only in the Year of the Dragon, but well beyond.

Wu, the interior ministry official, shares that view, noting that last year, the number of Taiwanese marriages shot up 19 percent, apparently paced by the belief that the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China — Taiwan's official name — was a favorable omen for long lasting and happy marriages.

"Coming on the heel of the centenary, the Year of the Dragon may encourage newlyweds to have babies soon," she said.

Chu Hong-min, a 30-year-old accountant, is five months pregnant and eagerly awaiting a dragon daughter to keep her 2-year-old son company.

But she also worries the incipient baby boom means her yet-to-be-born daughter will face tougher competition than usual.

"Many of my friends and colleagues are either expecting or plan to get pregnant this year," she said. "We really have to try harder to make the children do well at school."

ANNIE HUANG, Associated Press

Business & Investment Opportunities

Nov 14, 2011

Hawaii - Obama jokes about 'birther' row at Hawaii summit

HONOLULU — Hosting a major summit in his native Hawaii for the first time, President Barack Obama couldn't resist a jab at political opponents who question his birth certificate and say he is not American.

"I want to thank our Hawaiian hosts for the great hospitality," said Obama, attending a business forum on the eve of the main Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in his birth city of Honolulu on the island of Oahu.

"As many of you know, this is my birthplace," he said. "I know that was contested for a while, but I can actually show you the hospital if you want to go down there," he said, drawing laughter and applause from the audience.

Obama in April released his detailed birth certificate in a bid to quell the controversy, which has dogged him since he was a little-known candidate in 2008 but gained traction this year as the 2012 White House race heats up.

The US Constitution specifies that presidents and vice presidents must be "natural born" citizens of the United States and conservative pundits have fanned the row to raise questions about Obama's political legitimacy.

Obama has made a joke of it before. In May, he tried to rake in campaign cash with a "Made in the USA" campaign mug.

The white mug comes with a picture of the beaming president on the front, and a reduced rendition of his birth certificate on the back.

His certificate listed "Barack Hussein Obama II" as born on August 4, 1961 at 7:24 pm in Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological hospital in Honolulu.

Sitting down Saturday for an interview with Boeing CEO James McNerney as he kicked off APEC summit events with a business gathering, a jovial Obama said he would have to get used to wearing formal dress on the idyllic Pacific island.

"In all my years of living in Hawaii and visiting Hawaii, this is the first time that I've ever worn a suit," he said. "So it feels a little odd."

AFP

Business & Investment Opportunities

Nov 13, 2011

Malaysia - Serious mortality risk at home

The Health Ministry does not support or encourage women to give birth at home, on their own, because the risk of complications is high. It may cause serious morbidity or even mortality to a mother, her newborn, or both.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said the ministry acknowledged that women had the right to choose how and where to deliver, "but they don't have the right to put their baby at risk".

"Every pregnancy is a risk and the complications peak during labour and the immediate period after delivery," said Rosnah.

"Uncomplicated births can still potentially become a medical emergency without warning.

But the ministry is aware that there are women, who would prefer more natural, gentle, birthing methods, as opposed to what has benn perceived as an over-medicalised one in a hospital setting.

"We are aware and respect such preferences. We are continuously trying to accommodate such patients and their families' request," said Rosnah.

But such pregnant women are required to have had regular antenatal care and to have been fit throughout their pregnancy. A trained birth attendant would need to be present to assist.

The place of delivery would need to be safe and clean, with a reliable supply of clean water, electricity, good lighting and ventilation.

"The mother must inform her health-care provider (of her decision), who will then assess the safety of the home environment and advise the mother and her spouse or family, on things to prepare for the delivery," said Rosnah.

During the early stages of labour, the spouse or family must call the trained birth attendant to be present, who will then assist in the delivery.

"The trained birth attendant will be able to identify early warning signs of complications. The mother, spouse and family must understand and accept that if complications were to arise -- she will be transferred to a hospital."

In Malaysia, there is a law -- (Part V of the Midwives Act 1966 (revised - 1990) -- to ensure the safety of a mother during childbirth: a trained birth attendant must be in attendance during the delivery.

In Malaysia, this means registered midwives as they are the ones allowed to attend to births here.

Rosnah also pointed out that Malaysia's statistics showed that the risk of dying was much higher for a pregnant woman and her newborn if she were to deliver at home, rather than at a hospital.

Tan Choe Choe

New Straits Times

Business & Investment Opportunities