Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: Goa which boasts of high human development indices in the country, has the lowest sex ratio under 7 years of age as per Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare report.
Sex ratio of the population under 7 years of age is unusually skewed at 774 females per 1,000 males as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21 report by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
This is significantly below the 838 ratio for 2019-20 Survey and drastically down from the figure of 966 girls per 1,000 boys in the same age group of 0 to 5 years as per 2015-16 survey of the ministry.
However, for the overall population of Goa, the sex ratio is significantly healthy at 1,027 females for every 1,000 males. NFHS 2019-21 report released for Goa in March 2021 is the last in the series and no fresh reports have been released by the ministry since then.
“The statistics published by National Family Health Survey is disheartening. In the past while I was a member of Goa State Commission for Women, we did a sample survey to study the mindset of doctors,” said Martins
We asked them two questions and found that most of the doctors stated that if their first child is a boy then they will not go for second child. And if the first is a girl child then they will go for the second child,” said Dr Martins.
She said that people don’t go for second child if the first child is a boy and stressed the need to address the mindset of the people not wanting the girl child. She said that during programmes in the village, the Bailancho Saad observed that discriminatory practices prevailing in the society.
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