Latest news with #DMPA
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iowa's high school musical theater talent on display in Des Moines Thursday
DES MOINES, Iowa — Hundreds of central Iowa high school performers are completing final rehearsals ahead of Thursday night's Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards in downtown Des Moines. Des Moines Performance Arts has been all a buzz this week as 650 students from around the state have gathered for rehearsals at the Civic Center. The showcase and awards happen Thursday night and feature ensemble performances of the best vocalists in central Iowa schools singing together, and then about half the schools will perform excerpts of their high school musicals on the Civic Center stage. Gabe on the Go: Cuddling with goats in Cumming A musical director and a choreographer, both based in New York City, are here to work with the kids to prepare for the showcase. The program started in 2013 and has seen huge growth. 'When we started, we had nine schools in central Iowa. We've grown to be statewide with over 100 schools, more schools asking to join us, and we've become one of the largest programs of its kind in the country. And schools just keep telling us how valuable the feedback is and all the learning opportunities and how much showcase provides inspiration,' said Karoline Myers, DMPA Director of Education. The High School Theater Showcase is a ticketed event and is sold out. But you can watch the live stream on starting at 7:00 p.m. The showcase will also air on Iowa PBS in July. Awards and scholarships will be given at the end of the night for categories like best actor, vocalist, and dancer. And two students will win a 10-day trip and Broadway workshop in New York City to take part in a national High School Theater Showcase on Broadway later this summer. Those two students will be guests on Hello Iowa at the end of June. On Monday morning on Today in Iowa, we will feature some of the student performers and their directors in Scholastic Spotlight. Iowa's high school musical theater talent on display in Des Moines Thursday Gabe on the Go: Cuddling with goats in Cumming Sausage plant planned for Perry, 500 new jobs to be created Inside look at Final Four in Coolest Thing Made in Iowa Contest Forecast: Thursday raindrops, then heat Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hindu
21-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Going beyond the blame game: understanding sterilisation and its limits
The story so far Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court examined a case of a child born after a vasectomy and held, with striking clarity, that conception after sterilisation alone could not be held to brand a surgeon negligent. In Chennai, meanwhile, two separate 'failed' tubectomy cases were fought in the Madras High Court recently where, in one case, a post-sterilisation baby was regrettably called an 'unwanted child', and the court imposed heavy penalties on the State and doctor. And in the other case, the court imposed upon the operating doctor, a fine of ₹60,000. These divergent tones remind us that failure of sterilisation can flow either from human error or from biology—and that the law sometimes struggles to tell the two apart. Hence, there is a need to understand the process behind the procedures. India's contraceptive landscape India pioneered the National Family Welfare Programme in 1952 as the first country to do so, yet today, it houses the planet's largest recently however falling fertility levels, at least in the southern States, has indicated that we are in the throes of a demographic shift. Contraception is divided into temporary and permanent methods. Temporary methods include combined oral contraceptives, progestin-only pills, the Copper-T intrauterine device (IUD), the quarterly DMPA injection, and condoms (male and female). Except for condoms, every other form of contraception is made for women. Yet, that lone male option, the condom, carries a priceless bonus by fending off sexually transmitted diseases (HIV, Hepatitis B, Human Papilloma Virus), a protection its female counterpart cannot provide. Between the 1970s and the present, they helped millions of women prevent unwanted pregnancies and septic abortions, pursue higher education after marriage, allowed women to enter paid work, and, by shrinking household sizes, nudged families towards spending on nutrition and education rather than sheer survival. Permanent contraception is surgical. There are two routes: tubectomy for women and vasectomy for men. Tubectomy accounts for 98% of permanent sterilisations and contributes to 62% of all contraceptive use among Indian couples. Around 85% of women undergoing tubectomy in India have the procedure performed at a government health facility. Tubectomy and vasectomy The fallopian tube—an undulating tunnel of ciliated columnar epithelium and smooth muscle—ferries the ovum toward the womb for embryo formation after intercourse. A tubectomy, done through a mini laparotomy or laparoscopy under spinal or general anaesthesia, severs or seals that conduit. Because the cut is definitive, a woman walks out immediately sterile, yet she continues to menstruate. Usually, it is done during the time of menstruation or immediately within 6 weeks of childbirth. Though it needs an operating theatre, sterile instruments, a skilled surgeon, and an anaesthesiologist, it is still preferred over the far simpler male alternative. The vas deferens—a cord lined by pseudostratified columnar epithelium with stereocilia and girdled by thick muscle—transports sperm from the testis to the urethra in the penis. A non-scalpel vasectomy, usually under local anaesthesia, takes barely forty minutes, rarely needs a hospital bed and lets the patient resume work the next day and resume sexual activity within a week. The testes keep churning out sperm, but the cells are quietly re-absorbed; erections, libido, and testosterone remain untouched. Two main disadvantages exist in comparison to tubectomy: the man must use condoms for roughly three months while residual sperm clear, and he must return for a semen test—an appointment often sabotaged by stigma, forgetfulness or sheer inertia. However, failures are rare (about 1 in 1,200) compared with tubectomy, which is 1 in 200–300. Whether the scalpel meets the tube or duct, in all hospital facilities performing the procedure, the following routine happens: due counselling is provided and informed consent is verified; the segment is excised; the labelled specimen travels to histopathology, where ciliated folds confirm fallopian tube or thick muscular wall confirms vas deferens under a microscope. Only after this stamp does the patient receive an incentive—Central funds under the National Family Planning Welfare Programme plus a state 'top-up' because family planning sits on the Concurrent List. Where does failure occur? Contraceptive failure, though statistically rare in surgical sterilisation, must be understood through two distinct lenses: medical negligence and medical mal-occurrence. A failure is termed medical negligence when there is a demonstrable breach in the standard of care—such as improper surgical technique, incorrect identification of ligaments over fallopian tubes or ligation of incorrect anatomical structures, non-adherence to aseptic protocols, or lack of adequate postoperative instructions. In such instances, liability may rest with the healthcare provider. In contrast, a failure arising from medical mal-occurrence is one where all protocols were meticulously followed, yet nature intervenes—such as spontaneous recanalisation of the fallopian tubes or vas deferens. These are recognised biological phenomena and cannot be ascribed to incompetence or error. Importantly, under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, contraceptive failure is considered a valid legal indication for terminating an unwanted pregnancy. The histopathological examination done after surgery to check the surgically removed parts and identify the tissues acts as a safety barrier for the surgeons and a tipping point for the beneficiaries to rectify. Paying damages Since 2013, the National Family Planning Indemnity Scheme has offered a financial net of ₹2 lakh for a death within seven days, ₹50,000 for one in the next three weeks, ₹30,000 for a proven failure, and up to ₹25,000 for major complications. States often stack extra amounts atop these slabs. Doctors, too, are insured up to ₹2 lakh per claim—recognition that good faith cannot always outwit bad luck. Every year, India performs roughly 5-6 million tubectomies and fewer than 30,000 vasectomies—each stitched under hard fluorescent lights by obstetricians, surgeons and nurses who rarely see the limelight. Their labour has averted an estimated 350-400 million births since 1980, silently enlarging per capita GDP and futures. A few deliveries slip past the scalpel, and courts sometimes use wounding words. But judging by the long arc, the family planning wall still stands tall—solid and pragmatic. (Dr. C. Aravinda is an academic and public health physician. The views expressed are personal. aravindaaiimsjr10@
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jeff Chelesvig, DMPA President, retires after 30 years
DES MOINES, Iowa — After serving as the Des Moines Performing Arts President and CEO for 30 years, Jeff Chelesvig announced his retirement on Thursday. Chelesvig joined the DMPA in 1995 and quickly made his mark with impressive programs and expansive ideas. His work on the Willis Broadway Series brings shows in a package deal for viewers, helping establish the DMPA as one of Iowa's premier nonprofit art organizations and drove substantial economic results. The program has more than 12,000 subscribers and brings in $40 million in annual economic impact to DMPA. Panther coach's tragedy fueled trailblazing career Chelesvig has worked to bring the DMPA to schools through programs like the Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards and the Applause Series which delivers speakers, musical acts, and performing arts education around the state. 'I am thankful for all of the people who I've had the privilege to work with over the years including our team, our board, donors, patrons and the community of central Iowa,' said Chelesvig. 'Together we have developed a reputation for excellence, for the dynamic support of arts and culture, for warm and supportive audiences, and as a destination where performers will continue to feel welcomed. I am confident our star will continue to shine bright in Des Moines.' Chelesvig will continue in his position till August 31, 2025, during this time the DMPA says they will perform a national search to find his replacement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
