Efforts to Balance Sex Ratio at Birth Redouble

China's sex ratio at birth stood at 119.45 boys to 100 girls in 2009, an encouraging 1.11 drop compared to 2008. To build on this positive trend, the Chinese government will strengthen grass-roots work, enhance management and comprehensively promote the Taking Care of Girls campaign, a family planning official said last Thursday.
Resolving the high sex ratio at birth problem is a difficult, complex and systematic task, Director of China's Population and Family Planning Commission Li Bin said at the Taking Care of Girls and Sex Divergence work conference last Thursday in Hefei, capital city of Anhui Province, in east China.
Conference participants heard that the annual male-female birth ratio in China narrowed 1.11 points in 2009 -- the first drop since 2006. The sex ratio at birth in 14 provinces and municipalities saw a downward trend, which suggests a slowing down in China's widening gender gap.
Li called on authorities to redouble their efforts to close this gender gap. All concerned sectors should coordinate to promote a balanced sex ratio at birth, Li said. Local governments are to provide one-stop maternal services, such as pre-pregnancy counseling and pregnancy monitoring, and to establish a sound mechanism for periodic checks on illegal fetal gender scans and terminations based on gender selection.