Review

For tsunami-hit pregnant women

Refuge in Ragama

By Jamila Najmuddin 

The queue of pregnant women seated out-side the room indicates that this must be room number 40. As  they wait patiently for the nurse to read their numbers they look...... 

More......

> Caring for animals in the tsunami-ravaged areas...

> Brad & Jen's Final farewell

> Picking up the pieces of their lives

> Of tarantulas, fusion food and weddings...

> Daily drink improves thinking in older women

> Test tube baby gets blood check

> Tsunami folklore 'saved islanders'

For tsunami-hit pregnant women

Refuge in Ragama

Dr. M.L.Najimudeen

By Jamila Najmuddin 

The queue of pregnant women seated out-side the room indicates that this must be room number 40. As  they wait patiently for the nurse to read their numbers they look happy too. This is a great difference from the miserable looks that they had on their faces. Today, these pregnant women affected by the tsunami can walk in here and get all the help they require. "They do not even need their clinic cards," said a helper.

New patients

"We visit this hospital every month for a check up and every time we come here we see many new patients in this queue. The staff looks after us very well and the doctor is very kind," a young lady tells us.

As we enter room number 40, we are welcomed by an outstretched hand and smiling face. This is Dr. M. L. Najimudeen who has been a senior consultant at the Ragama Teaching Hospital for many years.

In response to the article in The Sunday Leader last week titled "Pregnancy In Refugee Camps" Dr. Najimudeen along with the director and staff members of the Ragama Teaching Hospital have decided to accommodate pregnant women affected by the tsunami in any part of the country and who are residing in welfare camps anywhere at the Teaching Hospital till the time of delivery.

"The hospital staff and I were very much disturbed when we heard about the hardships faced by these women. Especially the women who are in the first few months of their pregnancy. This is a time when they have to be extremely careful. During this time of crisis, it is only natural that we get together and help these women who have lost everything in the tsunami," said Dr. Najimudeen.

Willing to offer a bed for each patient and nutritious meals, Dr. Najimudeen said that the hospital would ensure that the patient receives the best treatment as they were already traumatised due to the disaster. "A pregnant woman under stress can bring harm to the growth of the baby. Therefore these women require sufficient care," he said.

Unmarried pregnant women

The hospital currently accommodates many unmarried pregnant women who have been deserted by their partners and families. These women have no place to go to for shelter and care.

"We currently have a young woman who has been deserted by her fianc and chased away by her parents because she got pregnant. She delivered a month ago and she still remains in the hospital because she has no place to go to. The staff provides her with the best quality care and we will do everything to ensure the safety of the mother and baby," Dr. Najimudeen said adding that any pregnant woman affected by the tsunami will be accommodated in this hospital.

"In this way the family members of these women will be relieved of the tension of looking after these women," he said.

The Ragama Teaching Hospital is a university teaching hospital and consists of senior consultants, highly qualified doctors, nursing staff and medical students to look after the patients. According to Dr. Najimudeen, the hospital currently has a record of delivering 1000 babies per month.

Caring for animals in the tsunami-ravaged areas...

By Risidra Mendis 

The tsunami has come and gone taking with it thousands of human lives. However, for those of us who remain, life has to go on. Aid poured in for human beings affected by the tsunami, but it seems like no one thought about the animals. Some household pets and strays in the badly affected areas were neglected and forgotten.

The general fear among the public at the time was the spread of infectious diseases among refugees housed in temporary camps - but the threat of an outbreak of rabies among roaming strays was the last thing on the minds of the traumatised people.

Not something new

However, for international organisations such as Humane Society International, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Noah's Wish and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), this natural disaster was not a new phenomenon for they constantly deal with animals affected by natural disasters. For many years these organisations have continued to work towards the welfare of animals in countries affected by natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis.

Responding to a request made by Animal Welfare Volunteer, Robert Blumberg in Sri Lanka, Humane Society International was the first international organisation to arrive in the country.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Director, Noah's Wish, Terri Crisp said that the moment she heard about the tsunami she sent e-mails and faxes to all the affected countries. "I got a quick response from Blumberg in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was the first to respond to my e-mail," says Crisp who then made arrangements to come to Sri Lanka.

According to Crisp, this is her 66th major disaster animal welfare programme. "I have responded to fires, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes in North America but never to a tsunami. This is my first animal welfare programme in Sri Lanka as well as outside North America," Crisp said.

Crisp with her team of four co-ordinators (three Americans and one Canadian) has travelled to Kalutara, Beruwela, Hikkaduwa, Galle, Weligama, Matara and Payagala where they have conducted free sterilisation programmes for dogs. Noah's Wish and the WSPA has initiated the rabies vaccine programme while Crisp has treated dogs for mange and worms.

Response

"We handed out dog and cat food. When we went around announcing our free anti-rabies and sterilisation programmes there were adults, children and people of all ages who came on bicycles and motorcycles with their animals. Others were running down the road afraid that they would miss us. These people have lost so much due to the tsunami. But it was some experience to see the interest of these people towards their animals," explained Crisp.

The Humane Society International will commence their sterilisation programmes on January 25. Sterilisation programmes on a large scale are being conducted in Muttur, Ampara, Arugam Bay and Trincomalee, while plans are underway to visit Batticaloa, Kalmunai and other areas.

Around 5000 dogs have been vaccinated by Noah's Wish and red collars were put on all rabies vaccinated dogs. According to Crisp, the Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) were very helpful in giving the rabies vaccines. Crisp has 26 cats, five dogs, five ducks, five chickens, three cows, three parrots, two turtles, one turkey and ornamental fish. "My husband and three daughters are animal lovers," says Crisp who hopes to come back to Sri Lanka soon.

Financial assistance

Director, Humane Society International, Shery Grant while pledging financial support, was in the country a few weeks ago to assess the impact of the tsunami on animals especially livestock throughout the region.

Meanwhile Blumberg together with animal volunteers Anusha David and Suzanne Tampoe, Sathva Mithra's Sargarica Rajakarunanayake, Animal Welfare and Protection Association's (AWPA) Hemantha Jayatilleke and Pet V Care's Dr. Palitha Yapa met Health Minister, Nimal Siripala De Silva recently.

"The Minister who is an animal lover himself has seven dogs. The Minister said he would co-operate and extend his fullest support to foreign and local animal welfare groups interested in conducting sterilisation programmes and the eradication of rabies," Blumberg said.

According to the Minister, rabies must be eradicated, people must be educated as to how to treat animals humanely and avoid dog bites. "Islandwide sterilisation programmes are a must and should be commenced  immediately," says the Minister.

A better approach

Even though the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) continues to catch stray dogs and destroy them, the Minister was of the view that stray dogs should not be killed but be sterilised instead. The Minister during his discussion with the foreign animal welfare groups is reported to have said he needs assistance in obtaining the expensive rabies serum for human vaccinations as this is currently imposing an enormous strain on his Ministry's resources.

The Minister has said that if he could assure the people of Sri Lanka that this expensive rabies vaccination was freely available there would be no pressure from the authorities for the killing of innocent stray dogs in the country.

Brad & Jen's Final farewell

With their arms around each other, kissing tenderly, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston looked like any other madly-in-love couple holidaying on the idyllic Caribbean isle of Anguilla.

Little did onlookers know the warm embrace was actually a good-bye kiss signifying the end of the glamourous couple's four-and-a-half-year marriage.

"They shared stories and laughed all the way along the beach like a couple of lovesick teenagers," reports one fellow holidaymaker. "They looked deeply in love like they were on a honeymoon, not like they were planning a divorce."

Sources close to the couple have revealed their recent trip to the island was a last ditch attempt to save their crumbling union.

Desperate to hold onto her husband, Jennifer yet again made a hollow pledge to 41-year-old Brad that she did start a family with him. An ecstatic Brad threw his arms around his wife as they strolled along the water's edge, showering her with affection.

But soon after they returned to their villa, the actress broke down, unable to maintain the charade she had been playing for years. She finally admitted to Brad and herself that her career came first and that at 35 she felt she was too young to be a stay-at-home mother. The romantic reconciliation trip had in fact proved to be the death knell of their marriage.

With the relationship all but over, the couple initially invited close friends Courteney Cox and David Arquette around to dinner just before Christmas. Over dinner they confided they were going to separate. However, a shocked Courteney begged the pair to reconsider, suggesting they all go on holiday to Anguilla together. The well-intentioned actress convinced them that a little fun and time away from LA may help them see things in a different, more optimistic light.

But the holiday was strained from the start. Staying in adjoining US$ 3000-a-night villas, Jennifer happily played with Courteney's seven-month-old daughter Coco, which only broke Brad's heart more. Storming off, he decided to go snorkeling by himself and when he returned the bitter rows they'd been having resumed.

It was obvious the situation was beyond the point of return when one day later Brad decided to fly back to the US for 24 hours. Carousing alone, he drowned his sorrows as he watched his football team Oklahoma play in Miami on January 4. Brad's behaviour made it clear that he wanted it to be over, says a source close to Jennifer. "She knew it was coming."

Upon his return to the island, the pair spent the rest of the trip figuring out how they would announce news of the split. "Once they made the decision it was like a weight had been lifted from their shoulder," says a source.

"All the anger was gone and what was left was an immense love and respect for each other and a sadness that they could not get it to work.

"They could not stop kissing and hugging each other, but it was out of sadness rather than happiness. The decision it was over came pretty quickly."

The couple tried to put on a brave face, but struggled for the rest of the trip. When the foursome dined at club RumZa onlookers noted that Courteney and David were "very affectionate" while Brad and Jen were not.

"I never saw them touch during the entire meal," says an observer. But still keeping up the fa‡ade, the pair dutifully posed for cameras when approached by photographers outside.

"They had big smiles. it was the opposite of the couple I had seen inside," the observer says.

This was not the first time Courteney and David had tried to help their troubled pals. Two years ago the foursome spent the festive season in Cabin San Luca, Mexico, where Brad begged Courteney to talk some "baby sense" into his wife.

Throughout last year the fights about starting a family only got worse, and they were not helped by rumours about flirtations Brad had allegedly been having with actresses including Catherien Zeta-Jones, Britney Spears and, most significantly, Angelina Jolie. Jennifer began arriving at awards shows alone and their schedules made conceiving highly unlikely.

By the time they got back from their Anguilla trip, Brad's publicist had already announced their split. Although Jen was wearing her wedding ring again, everyone knew it was probably the last time they did see it.

"There is still so much love between them," reveals one insider. "But neither of them had the energy to fight to save their marriage any more."

Is Angelina to blame?

There are many stories circulating about why Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt called it quits, and all have a common theme - Angelina Jolie. The latest reports, which the stars have denied, claim it was a phone call between Brad and Angelina that Jen overheard on another extension which sealed their marriage's fate. Hearing the intimate call allegedly forced Jen to confront Brad and get him to admit that there was no use continuing their marriage.

"Jen knows Angelina got under his skin, and it bothered her," a pal says, adding that when Brad became enamored with his co-star's lust for life, "He changed. And Jennifer knew it."

Angelina and Brad met last February when they began filming Mr. And Mrs. Smith, in which they play a married couple.

Although the stars initially clashed tension soon turned to friendship, with eyewitness report and photos emerging of the two holding hands on set.

Brad, who has never hidden his love of children, admired his co-star's devotion to her adopted Cambodian son Maddox, and soon formed a close bond with the three-year-old.

Brad spent hours in Angelina's trailer and some speculate that Maddox was as much of an attraction as his sexy mum. Whatever the case, tongues were soon, wagging about the two stars' cosy behaviour.

"When Brad and Angelina's relationship reached a head over the summer (of 2004), they were so close they were acting as if it were the real thing," a source from the set confines.

"They'd speak on the phone all the time, always in hushed tones. There was no hiding their affection for each other.

"She also has the balls to call if she likes someone. She has this do not give-a-damn attitude it's not hard to fall for her."

Friends on the set say the relationship was never more evident than when down-to-earth Angelina threw a barbecue for 20 of the film crew.

"There was loads of food, but Brad and Angelina were so into each other they did not eat," one of the guests recalled.

"They sat together, apart from the everyone else. They were very close and held hands. At one point he came up to Angelina in the kitchen, whispered in her ear and kissed her on the cheek."

Not long after that day, Brad came down with the flu. The next week, Angelina also had the bug.

When Brad heard his co-star was ill, he sent her flowers and a card that said, "To the missus. Oops!" intimating he had passed on the germ through his closeness to the actress.

Things only got steamier when it came to the couple's love scenes. A studio source claims the wardrobe department gave Angelina flesh-coloured panties to protect "her modesty" during a heated sex scene. But she passed on the offer.

"Angelina said she would not need them," the sources said. "She and Brad were both totally nude in their sex scenes, which is certainly unusual.

"She did not make a secret of her feelings. At one point she said, 'I wish he was not married.'

"Things really hotted up when the couple indulged in a saucy game of truth or dare with crew members late one night. Witnesses claimed they did not know where to look when Brad quizzed Angelina about her fetishes, and then she asked the handsome Troy star what his dream threesome would be."

Regardless of the rumours, both parties have denied they have had an affair. During a recent interview, Angelina announced, "I would not sleep with a married man. I have enough lovers. I do not need Brad."

She did, however, emphasis that being intimate with the star was hardly a chore.

"Brad and I play husband and wife to there is some kissing and all I will say is, he is a great kisser," she said in another interview. "He certainly knows what he is doing."

On April 29, a source in London's News Of The World claimed the pair were missing each other so much that Angelina planned to visit Brad in Italy, where he was filming Ocean's 12. The plan was abandoned, however, when Jen decided to join her husband.

In May, Jen once again grew concerned when she learn Brad would be staying at the same hotel as Angelina went the two were in Cannes to publicise films.

Again, dreading the thought of her husband being close to the sultry actress, Jen flew to his side and was all smiles on the red carpet at the Troy premiere while Angelina was photographed looking sullen as she explored the city with Maddox.

Then, on September 13 and 14, Brad and Angelina were united once again to reshoot scenes for Mr. And Mrs. Smith. They stayed in adjoining rooms 612 and 615 of the Ramada Inn southern California. The hotel has confirmed that staff were given orders to bar anyone else entering the floor.

Angelina, who has remained single since her split from husband Billy Bob Thornton in 2002, has often alluded to the fact that she enjoys the company of several lovers, often friends.

"I went for about two years with no man around me and then decided to get closer to men who were already very close friends," she says, in a comment bound to make any wife nervous.

While sources insist "they did not sleep with each other," there is no doubt Brad saw qualities in the raunchy actress he'd have loved his wife to share.

Angelina has made it clear she would like "an army" of kids and plans to adopt needy children from all areas of the globe.

Inspired by his co-star, Brad made two trips to Africa last year and allegedly begged Jen to consider adopting a baby left orphaned by that country's AIDS epidemic. However, once again, Jen was too involved in her career to fly to Africa and explore the adoption process.

Friends says Brad admires Angelina's devotion to humanity and motherhood. She is a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and has been tireless in her humanitarian efforts.

While Jen continued to take back-to-back movie roles that would ensure she spent even more time away from her hubby, Angelina makes it clear at every opportunity that making movies is a very low priority in her life.

When recently asked about how her family commitments affect her movie choices, she answered, "It's got to be special enough to take me away from my family. I loved shooting Mr. And Mrs. Smith, but five months not being able to do the other things I love to do?

"I could not to the United Nations stuff, and I also couldn't be in a new environment with Maddox or learn about a new culture - I live for that stuff. I do not  live for making a movie."

Picking up the pieces of their lives

"All we want is to go to school"

By Dhananjani Silva 

These children were living by the coast on December 26, 2004, but today they are refugees living in a temple. Their lives have turned upside down and they are left with shattered dreams. It is sad that they seem to be unaware of the fearful state that their future seems to be in.

Not only are these children deprived of their education: but they seem to have lost their homes for good and for some it is even worse, they have even lost their kith and kin. Few of them have any possessions and they wait for someone to dole out something for them.

Temporary lodging

The Subodharamaya temple in Dehiwala is giving shelter to these innocent children and their helpless parents. They seem content, as they do not have to worry about clothing. It was lunchtime when we visited and they were having their meals in earnest.

Asked if they have lost their mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers they answered with relief on their faces "No, we have not." The relief on their faces seem to say 'we are a bit fortunate than that.' But there seems to be something more that is hidden in their little minds - their eyes speak volumes of worry and anxiety. Something definitely seems to be worrying them all the time.

So approached The Sunday Leader these tsunami-hit little offspring to share their thoughts on this gigantic tragedy - the very sight of us made them happy and their faces filled with joy as they thought we are the harbingers of that much awaited hope - going back to school.

More than a handful came to ask us whether we will be able to send them back to school. They came running to us and started to inquire.

"When can we go to school again?" they asked us. "We love to go to school, but we have lost our school books, shoes and uniforms," they lamented, some of them with tears in their eyes.

Among them was young Nirodha, a student of Wijaya Vidyalaya, Dehiwala. A student of year 10, little Nirodha's hopes were lost when she had to stop her education halfway. Nirodha was preparing to sit for the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) examination next year.

No books, no uniforms

"Apart from school I used to go for extra classes as well. But now I do not have any notes that I have written in those classes. True we will get our text books back, but who will help us get all the important notes we wrote down during those classes," she asked. "We have worked hard and suffered to study during the last 10 years and now look what has happened to us," she cried.

Fourteen-year-old Kasun joined in. Recalling the incident, Kasun said: "We were playing when we suddenly saw a huge wave coming towards the shore. We ran towards the sea to see what it was, but then our parents shouted asking us to run away. Then all of us ran in different directions - we saw our houses getting washed away," he said sadly.

"Our toys, books, school uniforms, shoes everything got washed away, now how are we to go back to school? We do not know what has happened to our school friends, we are impatient to go and find out whether they are safe," said some of the young ones.

'Our sports meet'

In the midst of all this however comes a murmur. It is an anxious inquiry.

"Do you know what is happening to our school sports-meet Niranjan," a small boy whispers to his acquaintance. "Do not worry, we can participate this time as well," the others comfort him.

"But where are the uniforms," panics the little boy."But we were informed that we can come to school in coloured clothing," comforts his friend and the conversation thus goes on.

Though they have lost all their wealth the last thing that they have lost is the hope of getting back to that much enjoyed school life. They have the courage and hope, but regrettably they are not aware of the reality - only their parents know that they will be shifted to some other place and then again to another.

"We are worried where we will be shifted to. How can our children go to school if they take us far? We are more worried about our girls. We can live with our young girls even without food if only we can get a decent place to live in," confided a worried mother.

Of tarantulas, fusion food and weddings...

Last week, I came down with fever after many moons. I did not want to believe it until my daughter told me I was warm. Dosed myself with self-prescribed drugs, but had to drag myself up next day, because people who were supposed to be there had gone home, people who actually had to go home were still there, the kids would have to have an enforced holiday (not that they would have minded that much!) etc. Utter chaos!

Discovered to my horror that I had a large red patch on my leg, an unidentified flying object had bitten me! What if it was a scorpion or a tarantula? Kids fell over laughing when I voiced my fears and said I would have been long gone!

Some people just do not have any sympathy. One of my friends later searched diligently for fang or bite marks, eekk!!!

Tsunami insects?

Even in your sleep unseen dangers lurk. Shall cover myself from top to toe for a while, however hot it might seem. Maybe new breeds of insects were blown here with the tsunami?

Anyway, at least I can make people laugh. Not such a bad habit, is it? All the foreigners here involved in the aid effort, comment in spite of all the tragedy, how we still laugh and smile. I think it is very good for one's mental and spiritual health. Also, I think it is a great thing to be able to laugh at oneself together along with the others. Not that it is very pleasant to be ridiculed all the time, but teasing by people who know you too well is nice, because it shows they know your strengths and weaknesses.

Last week I had to make what was called fusion food, (East and West together). Actually it was more spice, herbs and zingy tang to the basic Western food. It tasted jolly good, if I might say so myself. Actually, I do this kind of cooking quite often as the head of the household (a.k.a Hitler, seeing as how sometimes he forgets he is no longer in the forces, still barks orders at us) has an aversion to Western food, loathes pasta, white sauce, etc and wants curry in the morning, curry in the evening, curry at suppertime ( a song my mum used to hum just came into my mind and I could not  resist using it, only it was sugar they had all the time).

If you spice things up a bit, anyway it tastes better to us Lankans. Can not be too good for your insides, though. Ah, but the thrills of living dangerously!

In actual life too, if there is fusion of cultures and races, what a peaceful and better world for us, I think our lives would be ever so much enriched. If Murali and Shane Warne can work together, I think anything is possible! Some good has to emerge from all the bad stuff. Even at this stage, why cannot we forget petty differences and unite, we all would benefit from it? At least future generations would have hope for a better tomorrow.

The nicest thing is that my friends overseas who were coming here for our class gettogether keep telling me how much they are looking forward to meeting up. They are all organising various methods of aid to be sent here, and instead of bringing gifts for everybody, they are going to donate the money towards some worthy project. I know they all deeply care for our country and its people, however well established they are in their adopted countries.

Memorable train journeys

Another friend who is presently here on a holiday is taking her sons on a train journey up country, just so they can see how beautiful our country really is, as well as trying to share with them the unique experience their parents had every holiday season of this slow train journey with many interesting incidents. They all have such lovely memories of our country, let us hope that many more beautiful and meaningful experiences are in store for us.

And now I have got to go and discuss the 'very important' hot topic in the household, the upcoming wedding, where my two beautiful girls are going to be bridesmaids. Manicures, pedicures, facials and such things.

Quite frivolous but rather nice and takes your mind away from gloom to hope! A new life for two young people. At the moment the pretty maids are practicing walking in their new silver, high heeled shoes, much to the amazement of the hired help! As the saying goes, 'no gain without pain.'

However hard it might seem, we have to get back to our normal lives. Most kids are back at school and that will give them a sense of security and maybe a semblance of normalcy.

Let us hope that the schools that were affected will find alternate accommodation soon. Overseas aid workers are helping to speed up the process of clearing the rubble and flattening land so new structures can be put up.

And so I go, to attend to various household chores, and may this week be even better than the last.

- Honky Tonk Woman

Daily drink improves thinking in older women

Women who enjoy a drink of beer or wine daily have sharper minds into old age than women who abstain, U.S. researchers reported recently.

The report, based on a study of nearly 12,500 nurses, adds to the apparent benefits of light to moderate drinking, which can also prevent heart disease and stroke.

"Our study suggests that moderate consumption might provide older women some cognitive benefits," said Dr. Francine Grodstein of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who worked on the study.

Writing in the New England Journal Of Medicine Grodstein and colleagues said they found that drinkers aged 70 to 81 were 20% less likely to experience a decline in their thinking skills over a two-year period than women who did not drink at all.

On average, the women who quaffed a beer or a glass of wine each day tended to have the mental agility of someone a year and a half younger than abstainers.

Drinking more than one glass of beer or wine didn't produce a greater benefit, the researchers said. However, few of the nurses in the study were heavy drinkers.

And it didn't seem to matter whether the women drank wine or beer, according to the team, led by Dr. Meir Stampfer, also of Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Moderate alcohol consumption - about a 12-ounce (0.35 liters) beer or a six-ounce (0.18 liters) glass of wine - is already known to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The Stampfer team speculated that the same effects that ward off cardiovascular conditions may also keep the blood vessels in the brain healthier, preventing small strokes that might impair thinking skills.

The researchers used the ongoing Nurses' Health Study, in which the women filled out questionnaires about drinking habits and took a telephone survey designed to assess thinking skills. Whether alcohol produces long-term benefits is not known.

In an editorial in the journal, Dr. Denis Evans and Dr. Julia Bienias of the Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, cautioned that the findings are not conclusive.

It may simply be, they said, "that older persons who are in good cognitive and physical health may be more likely than less healthy peers to indulge in low-to-moderate alcohol consumption as part of their social activities."
- Reuters

Test tube baby gets blood check 

Genetic screening has been used to ensure a test tube baby's blood was compatible with that of its mother. The test, by Australian doctors, enabled a couple to have a healthy child who might otherwise have died.

The technique, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, is already used to screen embryos for potentially fatal inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Its use to check the baby for rhesus disease is described in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dangerous mix

Rhesus disease is caused by the mother's immune system reacting against her baby's blood. About 17% of pregnant women are at risk of having a rhesus baby. The problem can arise when the mother's blood type is rhesus negative and the father's is rhesus positive.

If the baby is also rhesus positive and its blood mixes with its mother's - mainly during labour - antibodies are produced to destroy the child's red blood cells. It can lead to severe anaemia in the foetus, and stillbirth or death of the baby shortly after birth. Many of these cases can be prevented simply by giving rhesus negative women an injection to stop any antibodies being produced. It is also possible to treat any affected baby while still in the womb by giving a blood transfusion. But there is still a significant death rate associated with the condition.

Dilemma

"A couple who have had a significantly affected pregnancy are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to attempt further pregnancies," said Dr. Sean Seeho of the University of Sydney. "And the tendency for rhesus disease to worsen with each subsequent rhesus-incompatible pregnancy plays a major part in the decision."

Such a situation faced the couple involved in the test tube baby's case. The screening was carried out in 2003. Dr. Seeho's team used pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select a rhesus negative embryo from among a number of embryos produced after the mother underwent IVF treatment. They say this is the first reported case of an unaffected pregnancy using PGD to prevent rhesus disease.

Dr. Seeho believes PGD is an option for couples who have had a previous severely affected pregnancy and the man's blood type, although classified as rhesus positive, is actually a mix of rhesus positive and negative. But he warned that financial and technical barriers remained.

Professor Charles Rodeck of University College London suggested PGD would be appropriate for very few couples. Of the 600,000 or more births in England and Wales each year, about 62,000 are rhesus positive babies born to a rhesus negative mother. In up to 98% of cases the mother and baby can be successfully treated to avoid any complications.

Tsunami folklore 'saved islanders'

Traditional knowledge handed down from generation to generation helped to save ancient tribes on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the worst of the tsunami, anthropologists say.

But other isolated communities who moved to the islands from South East Asia centuries ago fared far worse than the indigenous peoples, evidence suggests. The aboriginal tribes - some of the oldest and most isolated in the world - have oral traditions apparently developed from previous earthquakes that may have allowed them to escape to higher ground before the massive tsunami struck the island chain off Indonesia. The Onge tribe, for example, have lived on Little Andaman for between 30,000 and 50,000 years and, though they are on the verge of extinction, almost all of the 100 or so people left seem to have survived the December 26 quake and the devastating waves which followed. Their folklore talks of "huge shaking of ground followed by high wall of water," according to Manish Chandi, an environmental protection worker who has studied the tribes and spoke to some Onges after the disaster.

When the earthquakes struck, the Onges moved to higher ground deep inside their forest and escaped the fury of the waves that entered the settlements, he told the BBC News website after talking to some of the inhabitants who knew some Hindi as well as their own ancient languages.

He said another aboriginal people - the Jarawa on South and Middle Andaman - also fled to higher ground before the waves.

"There is clear evidence that the aboriginals know about tsunamis and they know how to deal with them," he said.

Earthquake felt

Convenor, Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (Sane), Samir Acharya said the aboriginals have a collective memory of earthquakes and tsunamis so they knew to move to higher ground.

Author of The Land Of The Naked People, Madhusree Mukherjee supported the theory, saying: "The aboriginals have an island survival strategy that they have developed through the knowledge of the generations."

Anthropologists and government officials compared notes on the tribes' behaviour after the huge undersea earthquake. Executive Secretary, Andaman-Nicobar Tribal Welfare Department, K. C. Ghoshal spoke to some of the Great Andamanese people taken to a rest house near the islands' capital, Port Blair.

He said the survivors spoke of feeling the earth shake and bringing their thatched huts crashing down, prompting an exodus to higher ground.

"We can now say we have contacted or carefully assessed the plight of the aboriginals and we can say almost of them are safe," he said, adding that officials hoped to return those taken to temporary shelters in the immediate aftermath.

"They have been much harassed by the media and we plan to send them back to their areas without much delay," Ghoshal said. 

Chandi, who travelled to the affected areas as part of a team assessing the tsunami's environmental impact, said his research showed the Onges living at Dugong Creek and South Bay on Little Andaman Island were also almost wholly safe. He added that the Jarawa tribe along the west coast of South and Middle Andaman Islands was also largely safe. Further afield, the Sentinelese people appear not to have been affected, Ghoshal said.

"They continued to remain isolated and even shot arrows at a naval helicopter on patrol which had descended on the North Sentinel island to check," he said.

There are some concerns for the Shompens, the last of the islands' five groups that are considered native, though some say they may have originated in Africa.

The Shompens live inland and deep in the forest, and the government's tribal welfare department is not sure how many, if any, casualties they suffered.

"A helicopter that hovered over their habitat seems to have scared them and they have fled into very dense jungles. So it will be a while before a clear assessment will emerge," Ghoshal said.

Newer problems

But research on the more southern Nicobar part of the archipelago suggests that tribes who were not indigenous to the islands fared far less well. Threats still remain for survivors - mostly from the outsiders' diseases

Thousands of Nicobarese, who some say migrated from South East Asia 500 or 600 years ago, are dead or missing. Many of their islands suffered more in the huge waves - in some cases being washed off the horizon entirely. And even those who survived face more dangers along with their aboriginal fellow island dwellers - partly because of the renewed interest in them from outside.

Andaman Health Expert, Tilak Bera, an Indian navy doctor with close knowledge of the aboriginals, said: "I am sure they have tided themselves over the tsunami with their collective knowledge but I am apprehensive about diseases that may afflict them because of the exposure to outsider society and unfamiliar food they had to eat after displacement."

 - Subir Bhaumik, BBC News