研究發現 印度每年有24萬女童因性別歧視而夭折

Hundreds of thousands of young girls in India die every year because of "invisible discrimination", according to research published in the Lancet Global Health.

根據《柳葉刀全球健康雜誌》上發表的研究顯示，在印度，由於無形的歧視，成千上萬的女童因此夭折。

Researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis estimate an average of 239,000 girls under five in India die each year, or 2.4 million in a decade, because of their gender.

來自國際應用系統分析研究所的研究人員估計，由於性別問題，印度平均每年有23.9萬名五歲以下的女孩死亡，十年內死亡的女童人數高達240萬。

Many of the deaths were due to neglect, both within their families and from health practitioners, as well as an "invisible, routine and continued", bias Indian girls experience in food allocation.

許多女孩的死亡都是由於她們的家庭照料人員以及健康從業人員的疏忽造成的，以及“無形的、常態化的、持續的”、在給印度女孩分配食物的經驗方面的偏見。

Studies have shown that Indian girls receive less education, have poorer nutrition and get less medical attention than boys.

研究表明，印度女孩受教育程度較低，營養不良，受到的醫療照顧要比男孩少。

Under natural conditions and in countries where no such gender bias exists, mortality rates for girls under five should be lower than those for boys due to a natural biological advantage.

在自然條件下以及沒有女孩性別歧視的國家，由於天生的生物優勢，五歲以下女童的死亡率應當是低於男童的。

But the researchers, who used census data from 2000-2005, found what they described as an "excess mortality rate" among girls under five across 29 out of 35 Indian states. The rate was 18.5 per 1,000 live births.

但是，研究人員使用了2000年至2005年的人口普查數據，發現在印度的35個邦裏，有29個邦的5歲以下女童出現了他們所謂的“超額死亡率”。每1000人中就有18.5人死亡。

The worst affected was northern India, which has a number of large rural agricultural states with low education and socio-economic development levels and high fertility.

這個問題在印度北部地區最突出，那裏有大片的農村區域，教育水平低，社會經濟發展程度低，出生率卻很高。

Christophe Guilmoto from the Universite Paris-Descartes, France, said that for too long, the focus had been on pre-natal sex selection.

法國巴黎笛卡爾大學的里斯託弗·吉爾莫託表示，長期以來，人們都關注的是產前的性別選擇。

"Gender-based discrimination towards girls doesn't simply prevent them from being born, it may also precipitate the death of those who are born," said Guilmoto.

吉爾莫託表示：“性別歧視不僅令許多女嬰根本沒有來到人世的機會，還讓已經出生的女孩面臨死亡的威脅。”

"Gender equity is not only about rights to education, employment or political representation. It is also about care, vaccination and nutrition of girls, and ultimately survival."

“性別平等不僅僅意味着教育、就業和參與政治的機會均等，它也體現在給女孩提供的關愛、預防接種、營養以及最根本的存活的權利。”