46 MILLION GIRLS WENT MISSING IN INDIA

46 MILLION GIRLS WENT MISSING IN INDIA

One in three girls missing globally due to sex selection, both pre and post natal, is from India according to the UNFPA’s State of the World Population 2020 report

Examines the issue of missing women by studying sex ration imbalance at birth as a result of gender biased sex selection as well as excess female mortality due to deliberate neglect of girls because of a culture of son preference

Excess female mortality is the difference between observed and expected mortality of the girl child or avoidable death of girls during childhood 

Report cities a 2014 study to state that India has the highest rate of excess female deaths at 13.5 per 1,000 female births or one in nine deaths of females below the age of 5 due to postnatal sex selection

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): Began operations in 1969 as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities under the administration of the United Nations Development Fund

In 1971 it was placed under the authority of the United Nations General Assembly

Name was changed into United Nations Population Fund in 1987. However, the shortened term of UNFPA has been retained

Worldwide campaign against child marriage, obstetric fistula and female genital mutilation

UNFPA is the world's largest multilateral source of funding for population and reproductive health programs

Fund works with governments and non-governmental organizations in over 150 countries with the support of the international community, supporting programs that help women, men and young people

Spread across four geographic regions: Arab States and Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa

Around three-quarters of the staff work in the field

UNFPA uses a human rights-based approach in programming to address three "transformative goals": Zero preventable maternal death, Zero gender-based violence, Zero unmet need for family planning.