PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Rohan Khera
AU  - Snigdha Jain
AU  - Rakesh Lodha
AU  - Sivasubramanian Ramakrishnan
TI  - Gender bias in child care and child health: global patterns
AID  - 10.1136/archdischild-2013-303889
DP  - 2014 Apr 01
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood
PG  - 369--374
VI  - 99
IP  - 4
4099  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/99/4/369.short
4100  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/99/4/369.full
SO  - Arch Dis Child2014 Apr 01; 99
AB  - Gender-based discrimination is reported across the spectrum of paediatric healthcare including emergency, inpatient, outpatient and preventive care and is mostly reported from South Asia and China with sporadic reports from Africa and South America. Biases against young girls have been documented even in immunisation percentage, home food allocation, seeking medical care for childhood ailments and percentage of household healthcare expenditures allocated to them. Such gender discrimination in access to medical care is likely to have an influence on the overall health of female children. Over the last five decades, the under-5 sex ratios are worsening in India with declining number of girls. Deliberate parental neglect of girls’ essential and life-saving medical care is also an important contributing factor apart from sex-selective abortions to the declining gender ratios. Corrective measures and focused action are needed.