Thursday, January 29, 2015

China's High abortion rate


 

An article was released January 29, 2015 about the high abortion rate in China below I copied the article followed by the link if you would like to check it out.



Papers in China express concern over high abortion rates among young women and call for better sex education for the youth.

Health authorities say that 62% of the 13 million abortions carried out each year are performed on women aged between 20 and 29, most of whom are single, the China Daily reports.

The report adds that almost 20% of these women have had more than one abortion.

Experts believe that the number is even higher as the statistics exclude abortions carried out at unregistered clinics.

Guo Min, a health expert from a non-governmental organisation, tells the paper that most of these women are not well educated and have never received any sex education.

Echoing similar views, the China Youth Daily observes that the younger generation is more open, but the lack of sex education leads them to "display risky behaviour".

Sex is still a taboo subject in China and many parents and teachers avoid discussing the topic with youngsters.

Wu Shangchun, a researcher from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, tells the paper that young people are obtaining sex-related information from various avenues, and urges parents and schools to communicate more on the topic.

Experts are also concerned about the "misleading" advertisements that play down risks of abortions.

The Tianjin Daily criticises the "irresponsible advertisements" for claiming that such medical procedures are "quick, painless and risk-free", leading to reckless decision-making.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-30996036

n  Just some of my own quick thoughts about the article and how it relates back to our class and our overall theme of our course. Science has now evolved to the point where people can chose to have their babies or not! In a way people now can play the role of “God”. This can raise a number of question about mortality and religion and how science and the enlightenment changed the course of history. Taoism one of the religions in China who states “On the exclusive grounds that the destruction of life and the disruption of Nature is in direct conflict with the Tao” but yet millions of people are taking part in having abortions. This is a clear example of enlightenment and science taking the front seat while religion takes the back seat. Some may argue that this practice is a good practice and it allows women to have control over their reproductive systems whereas some others may believe this is morally heinous act. I want to make it clear I am in no way taking a side , just playing devil’s advocate.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Unusual Stem Cell Match

China-UK Stem Cell Match

Jiang Yongfeng, a Chinese man in Shanghai working as a driver, registered for stem cell research through his job and ended up being a perfect match for a young boy in the UK who needed a transplant. According to the article, finding a stem cell match is particularly rare due to the fact that the cells must be nearly identical in order for the transplant to be successful. This "medical miracle" beat the 320 to 13,700 odds of matching a donor and recipient of Chinese decent, and is in the process of saving a young boys life.

Mr. Yongfeng was thrilled to begin the new, innovative procedure in extracting his stem cells, where the doctors "hooked up to a transfusion machine for three hours, while the healthy stem cells were extracted from his blood system." The procedure that was previously used involved a painful extraction of bone marrow from the donor.





The idea of giving one's own stem cells to treat a stranger from peril is an example of how generous some humans can be in a world that can be dark at times, and shows the great medical advances that China has made. The art of unique, medical science has made it possible to keep the young boy alive through Jiang Yonfeng's selfless stem cell donation.