Israel admits Ethiopia scandal

An Israeli government official has admitted to a state practice of injecting Ethiopian women living inside the country with the long-acting contraceptive, Depo-Provera, a report by the Haaretz newspaper revealed on Sunday. According to the paper, Health Ministry chief Professor Ron Gamzu has instructed four national medical organisations to stop the practice immediately. The Ministry and other state agencies previously denied any knowledge or responsibility of the practice, which was first reported five years ago. Gamzu's letter instructed "all gynaecologists not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment." Gamzu's letter responded to another letter from Sharona Eliahu-Chai from the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, representing a number of women’s and Ethiopian immigrants' groups. The letter demanded the injections cease immediately and that an investigation be launched right away. Around six weeks ago, Israeli journalist Gal Gabbay revealed the results of interviews with 35 Ethiopian immigrants, whose testimonies could help explain an almost 50 percent decline in Israel's Ethiopian community birth rate over the last 10 years. According to Gabbay’s programme, while the women were still in transit camps in Ethiopia they were sometimes intimidated or threatened into taking Depo-Provera injections. "They told us they are inoculations," said one of the women interviewed. "They told us people who frequently give birth suffer. We took it every three months. We said we didn’t want to."