Spain scraps health benefits for illegal immigrants

Spain scraps health benefits for illegal immigrants

Via AFP:

Spain takes pride in its universal health care but Europe's debt crisis has spurred tough budget cuts that will bring sometimes life-saving treatment for illegal immigrants to an abrupt end.

(...)

Among illegal immigrants, only children, pregnant women and emergency cases will qualify for free treatment.

"This will only put Spain on a par with other European Union countries," according to Health Minister Ana Mato.

The measure will leave half a million illegal immigrants who have been counting on Spain's health coverage with no safety net, and several organisations have been sounding alarm bells.


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UK: Imam caught on camera advocating female circumcision

UK: Imam caught on camera advocating female circumcision

Via the Daily Mail:

Mohammed Abdul, the Imam of a Bristol mosque, was filmed urging a follower to take women and girls abroad so they can be circumcised legally.

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The footage was obtained by an undercover reporter working for the Sunday Times newspaper, who posed as a Muslim seeking advice.

Bradford: Cousin marriage tradition becoming more entrenched

Bradford: Cousin marriage tradition becoming more entrenched

Via the BBC:

The tradition of marrying a cousin is becoming more entrenched among British-born Pakistanis living in Bradford than it was a generation ago, writes Winifred Robinson.

This has been the surprise finding of the Born in Bradford research project . It's a huge long-term study of 14,000 mothers and babies in the city, the largest ever undertaken in the UK. Half of the families in the project are Asian.

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Denmark: Increase in pensioner repatriation

Denmark: Increase in pensioner repatriation

Via Kristeligt Dagblad:

According to the Danish Refugee Council, 613 refugees and immigrants voluntarily returned home in 2011, compared with 370 in 2010.

Two thirds ere pensioners, and the organization says it receives many request from New Danes who want to check out the possibility of retires in their homeland.

Belgium: Moroccan in jail for circumcising son

Belgium: Moroccan in jail for circumcising son

Via Volkskrant:

A 23 year old Moroccan was sentenced to jail for circumcising his two year old son. A court in Tongeren, next to Maastricht, sentenced the man to two years (one of which is conditional). He also has to pay 7500 euro compensation to his son and the baby's mother.

The man circumcised his son, since he couldn't accept that his son wouldn't be raised according to Moroccan values. The mother, a Flemish woman, withheld her pregnancy from him, because she didn't want the kid to be raised as a Muslim.

After the circumcision the boy was successfully treated in a hospital and there are no remaining injuries.

UK: Woman died after Muslim nurse refused to help as he was praying

UK: Woman died after Muslim nurse refused to help as he was praying

Via the Telegraph:

Alzheimer's sufferer Dorothy Griffiths, 87, was found sitting down after staff heard a bang and a carer went to the office for help to lift her.

But agency nurse Abdul Bhutto, who was in charge, said they would have to wait.

Carer Zoe Shaw told the Sheffield hearing: "It took between five and ten minutes because he was praying upstairs in the office on his prayer mat. A staff member told me we had to wait for him to finish."

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UK: Campaign aims to break taboos on organ donation

UK: Campaign aims to break taboos on organ donation

Finland: Finns Party proposes circumcision ban

Finland: Finns Party proposes circumcision ban

Via YLE:

Finns Party MP Vesa-Matti Saarakkala is calling for the criminalisation of male circumcision in Finland. In a formal inquiry to the government, Saarakkala says expanding the circumcision ban on girls to include boys is an issue of fundamental rights.

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Netherlands: Hymen reconstruction doesn't work

Netherlands: Hymen reconstruction doesn't work

Via RNW:

Nearly 90 women were followed over a two-year period at two different hospitals in the Netherlands. The women were closely monitored and supported through the decision-making surrounding hymenoplasty. The researchers offered education and counselling in an effort to banish a number of myths surrounding virginity.

“People believe that women should bleed on their wedding night, but, in truth, only about half of women bleed when they lose their virginity.”

Sweden: Children of immigrant parents more likely to develop autism with intellectual disability

Sweden: Children of immigrant parents more likely to develop autism with intellectual disability

Via News Medical:

The study, which is published in the scientific periodical The British Journal of Psychiatry shows that children of immigrant parents, particularly from countries of low human development, are disproportionately likely to develop autism with intellectual disability, a connection that appears to be related to the timing of migration rather than complications in childbirth. Children, whose mothers migrated just before or during pregnancy, ran the highest risk of all.

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Netherlands: Muslims don't accept 'incurable' diagnosis

Netherlands: Muslims don't accept 'incurable' diagnosis

Via Zorgvisie(Dutch):

Research by Fuusje de Graaff of NIVEL (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research) finds that in palliative care, the professional values of care-providers clashes with the culture values of Turkish and Moroccan patients.

De Graaff researched what shape the palliative care takes for patients of Turkish and Moroccan background. For Turks and Moroccans an illness is usually a matter for the whole family. They have no idea what to do with the diagnosis 'incurable'. They often don't tell the critically ill patient, hoping not to deprive him of a cure. They expect the doctors to do everything to try and cure the patient, even if he's incurably ill.

Sweden: Doctors want to ban circumcision

Sweden: Doctors want to ban circumcision

Via the Local:

Circumcision of young boys for religious and non-medical reasons ought to be banned in Sweden, urged the Swedish Paediatric Society (Svenska barnläkarföreningen, BLF).

In a statement submitted to the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), the society called the procedure an assault.

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"Parents decide things for their children all the time," Omar Mustafa, head of the Islamic Association in Sweden, said to GP.

"Allowing parents to decide over this matter isn't stranger than allowing them to decide whether their child is to be vaccinated or not," he continued.

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Flanders: 53% don't want Muslim doctor

Flanders: 53% don't want Muslim doctor

Via Het Nieuwsblad (Dutch):

53% of the Flemish prefer not having a Muslim family doctor. 40% prefer a White doctor. 22% said they prefer not being treated by a gay doctor.

The survey was conducted last November by the GfK Significant agency for Vitaya magazine. A thousand Flemish ages 20-70 were asked about their relationship with their family doctor.

Netherlands: Khat is banned

Netherlands: Khat is banned

Via Expatica:

The Dutch government Tuesday banned the use of khat, a leaf native to East Africa chewed for its stimulant properties mainly by the Netherlands' sizeable Somali community.

"The drug khat is banned," the Dutch Immigration, Health and Justice departments said in a joint statement.

Khat is grown in the Horn of Africa and has for centuries been chewed by users in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.

"The problem lies especially within the Somali community, which is much larger than the Kenyan or Yemeni communities within our country," immigration department spokesman Frank Wassenaar told AFP, adding there were about 27,000 Somalis living in the Netherlands

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Sweden: Somalis 'shut out' of health system

Sweden: Somalis 'shut out' of health system

Via the Local:

Many Somalis in Sweden feel dismissed when visiting a doctor in Sweden, according to a new study, which shows that many end up looking abroad for medical treatment as a result.

The findings come from a new doctoral dissertation by Kristian Svenberg with the Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University.

Svenberg's research, which is based on the experience of Somali refugees in Sweden, found that people from other cultures sometimes find there is an unnecessarily authoritarian approach toward them by Swedish healthcare personnel.

Many Somalians, in particular, feel they are not taken seriously when they seek help for health problems.

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Brussels: Plans for first Muslim retirement home

Brussels: Plans for first Muslim retirement home

Via HLN (Dutch):

Muslim theologian Abdelkader Dahmichi intends to open the first Muslim retirement home. The private home will be open for everyone and could be open in 2014, possibly in Molenbeek, according to a report in La Capitale.

Dahmichi is concerned about the situation of elderly Muslims. "Currently there's no specific home for them with is adapted to their religion," says the professor, who works at the Islamic Center of Belgium.

"This project is not a call to place our elderly en masse in a nursing home. It should offer a solution for emergency cases, when the children can't care for their parents any more."

Amsterdam: Sexual health course for clergymen

Amsterdam: Sexual health course for clergymen

London: Schools to tackle genital mutilation

London: Schools to tackle genital mutilation

Via Deutsche Welle:

It is estimated that some 20,000 girls in the UK could be subjected to FGM. Each year, 6,500 girls in central London alone could face FGM, making it the city with the highest number of girls at risk in Europe.

Now London hopes to curb the practice by raising awareness through the integration of FGM education in secondary school curriculum. The London Metropolitan Police have teamed up with the agency Kids Taskforce and the local Lilian Baylis School to create a video featuring young girls learning about FGM's consequences through interviewing various authorities. The video is part of an FGM resource pack for teachers and students, and can be downloaded by schools using a password.
"I think it's absolutely vital that boys and girls know about this subject," said Detective Sergeant Vicky Washington from the London Metropolitan Police. "It may not be that they are at risk, but they could be exposed to someone who is. It's also about educating young people that this is happening and that it's child abuse and violence against women and has horrific debilitating effects, both short and long-term."

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UK: Muslim medical students boycotting lectures on evolution

UK: Muslim medical students boycotting lectures on evolution

Via the Daily Mail:

Muslim students, including trainee doctors on one of Britain's leading medical courses, are walking out of lectures on evolution claiming it conflicts with creationist ideas established in the Koran.

Professors at University College London have expressed concern over the increasing number of biology students boycotting lectures on Darwinist theory, which form an important part of the syllabus, citing their religion.

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Germany: 'Jihad' heaviest-ever naturally born newborn

Germany: 'Jihad' heaviest-ever naturally born newborn