Editing Infanticide (section)

==Prevention==

=== Sex education and birth control ===
Since infanticide, especially neonaticide, is often a response to an unwanted birth,<ref name=Marks2009/> preventing [[unwanted pregnancies]] through improved [[sex education]] and increased [[birth control|contraceptive]] access are advocated as ways of preventing infanticide.<ref name=Friedman2009>{{cite journal |vauthors=Friedman SH, Resnick PJ |title=Neonaticide: Phenomenology and considerations for prevention |journal=Int J Law Psychiatry |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=43–47 |year=2009 |pmid=19064290 |doi=10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.11.006 }}</ref> Increased use of contraceptives and access to safe legal [[abortion]]s<ref name="Hardness" /><ref name=Paul/>{{rp|122–23}} have greatly reduced neonaticide in many developed nations. In Pakistan, advocates of legalizing abortion say it would reduce infanticide and save mothers from potentially fatal back-street terminations.<ref name =tribune />

=== Psychiatric intervention ===
Cases of infanticide have also garnered increasing attention and interest from advocates for the mentally ill as well as organizations dedicated to postpartum disorders. Following the trial of [[Andrea Yates]], a mother from the United States who garnered national attention for drowning her 5 children, representatives from organizations such as the Postpartum Support International and the Marcé Society for Treatment and Prevention of Postpartum Disorders began requesting clarification of diagnostic criteria for postpartum disorders and improved guidelines for treatments. While accounts of postpartum psychosis have dated back over 2,000 years ago, perinatal mental illness is still largely under-diagnosed despite postpartum psychosis affecting 1 to 2 per 1000 women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sharma|first1=Indira|last2=Rai|first2=Shashi|last3=Pathak|first3=Abhishek|date=2015|title=Postpartum psychiatric disorders: Early diagnosis and management|journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry|volume=57|issue=6|pages=S216–21|doi=10.4103/0019-5545.161481|issn=0019-5545|pmc=4539865|pmid=26330638 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Osborne|first=Lauren M.|date=September 2018|title=Recognizing and Managing Postpartum Psychosis|journal=Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America|volume=45|issue=3|pages=455–68|doi=10.1016/j.ogc.2018.04.005|pmc=6174883|pmid=30092921}}</ref> However, with clinical research continuing to demonstrate the large role of rapid neurochemical fluctuation in postpartum psychosis, prevention of infanticide points ever strongly towards psychiatric intervention.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Screening for psychiatric disorders or risk factors, and providing treatment or assistance to those at risk may help prevent infanticide.<ref name="FriedmanDepress">{{cite journal |vauthors=Friedman SH, Resnick PJ |title=Postpartum depression: an update |journal=Women's Health |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=287–95 |date=May 2009 |pmid=19392614 |doi=10.2217/whe.09.3 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Current diagnostic considerations include symptoms, psychological history, thoughts of self-harm or harming one's children, physical and neurological examination, laboratory testing, substance abuse, and brain imaging. As psychotic symptoms may fluctuate, it is important that diagnostic assessments cover a wide range of factors.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

While studies on the treatment of postpartum psychosis are scarce, a number of case and cohort studies have found evidence describing the effectiveness of [[lithium (medication)|lithium]] monotherapy for both acute and maintenance treatment of postpartum psychosis, with the majority of patients achieving complete remission. Adjunctive treatments include [[electroconvulsive therapy]], antipsychotic medication, or [[benzodiazepine]]s. Electroconvulsive therapy, in particular, is the primary treatment for patients with [[catatonia]], severe agitation, and difficulties eating or drinking. Antidepressants should be avoided throughout the acute treatment of postpartum psychosis due to risk of worsening mood instability.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bergink|first1=Veerle|last2=Rasgon|first2=Natalie|last3=Wisner|first3=Katherine L.|date=2016-09-09|title=Postpartum Psychosis: Madness, Mania, and Melancholia in Motherhood|journal=American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=173|issue=12|pages=1179–88|doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16040454|pmid=27609245|issn=0002-953X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Though screening and treatment may help prevent infanticide, in the developed world, significant proportions of neonaticides that are detected occur in young women who deny their pregnancy and avoid outside contacts, many of whom may have limited contact with these health care services.<ref name="Marks2009" />

=== Safe surrender ===
In some areas [[baby hatch]]es or ''safe surrender sites'', safe places for a mother to anonymously leave an infant, are offered, in part to reduce the rate of infanticide. In other places, like the United States, [[safe-haven law]]s allow mothers to anonymously give infants to designated officials; they are frequently located at hospitals and police and fire stations. Additionally, some countries in Europe have the laws of [[anonymous birth]] and [[confidential birth]] that allow mothers to give up an infant after birth. In anonymous birth, the mother does not attach her name to the birth certificate. In confidential birth, the mother registers her name and information, but the document containing her name is sealed until the child comes to age. Typically such babies are put up for adoption, or cared for in orphanages.<ref>최예니 . "Study on Confidential Birth and Safety Measures of Infants from Unmarried Mothers." SNU Open Repository and Archive: Study on Confidential Birth and Safety Measures of Infants from Unmarried Mothers, 서울대학교 대학원, August 2018, s-space.snu.ac.kr/handle/10371/137993#export_btn</ref>

=== Employment ===
Granting women employment raises their status and autonomy. Having a [[gainful employment]] can raise the perceived worth of women. This can lead to an increase in the number of women getting an education and a decrease in the number of female infanticide. As a result, the [[infant mortality]] rate will decrease and economic development will increase.<ref name="Fuse">{{cite journal|last=Fuse|first=K|author2=Crenshaw, E.M|title=Gender imbalance in infant mortality: A cross-national study of social structure and female infanticide|journal=Social Science & Medicine|year=2006|volume=62|issue=2|pages=360–74|doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.006|pmid=16046041}}</ref>