HMO data: Lebanon war lead to baby boom
Haaretz
March 7, 2007
By Reuters
For some the rocket barrages of last summer's war trapped people inside, for others weekends home were particulary poignant for weary fighters and their partners. The war, in short, triggered a baby boom, according to Channel 10 television yesterday. It quoted health maintenance organization statistics that the number of women now in their fifth, sixth or seventh month of pregnancy was 35 percent higher than the figure a year ago.
Israel and Hezbollah battled for 34 days before a United Nations -sponsored cease-fire went into effect in August.
Commenting on the pregnancy figures, Gila Bronner, director of the Sexual Health Service at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, said stepped-up sexual activity after a war was an affirmation of life.
"We wanted to tell the world, 'You tried to kill us, but you didn't - See, we're alive,'" she told Channel 10.
Israel experienced a four-year baby boom after the Six-Day War in 1967 and births increased sharply for two years following the end of its 1973 Yom Kippur War.
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