Helping women embrace menopause is gynecologist's lifelong mission

When China marked its annual Chinese Doctors' Day on Aug 19, one name stood out in Zhejiang province: Zhou Jianhong. The veteran gynecologist at Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, was named among the nation's "Most Beautiful Doctors", a title that reflects not appearance but devotion to saving lives and serving patients.

For Zhou, who has spent 37 years in obstetrics and gynecology, the recognition crowns more than a career in surgery. It honors a mission she began 15 years ago: helping women embrace midlife health instead of fearing it.

Zhou said: "In a year, I only have about 10 days of rest. The remaining time is either spent in the hospital handling outpatient services and surgeries, leading the team in scientific discussions, or using weekends and holidays to support and enhance the skills of doctors in primary-level hospitals."

Yet beyond being a professional doctor and an academic teacher, Zhou has another identity that is more well-known to female friends: the one who popularizes knowledge about menopause.

Her awakening came early in practice. Witnessing preventable suffering due to inadequate awareness — women delayed seeking care until diseases escalated, especially in rural areas — she pioneered Zhejiang's first comprehensive menopause endocrinology clinic in 2010.

The initial days were discouragingly quiet, however. At that time, people had little knowledge about menopause and even avoided or dismissed the subject.

Zhou explained: "Initially, I started doing public lectures because I wanted to change their perceptions so that more patients would come to my clinic. As I continued, I realized that many people really need this knowledge, so I began to seriously and consistently pursue this work."

In the face of patients' doubts and resistance to hormone replacement therapy, she innovated a model, gathering contact information from clinic visitors before giving free lectures at night when the group reached 30 to 50 people.

This approach finally paid off. Urban women became proactive about treatments, improving compliance rates and consultation efficiency dramatically.

In 2016, these seeds blossomed into a health knowledge popularization team named "Huayang Nianhua", meaning "Blossom Age".

From then on, Zhou turned nearly all of her rest days into lecture marathons.

In 2019 alone, she led the team to complete an astonishing 1,155 sessions, involving over 200 doctors and benefiting more than 100,000 attendees.

When talking about these achievements, Zhou emphasized, "It is not all done by myself, but with the joint efforts of our team." She has also trained lecturers and medical personnel across the nation.

Today, the team boasts more than 500 professional lecturers, expanding its footprint into remote areas including Sichuan and Qinghai provinces as well as Guangxi Zhuang, Xinjiang Uygur and Xizang autonomous regions. Delivering thousands of free lectures annually, they empower over 100,000 people on average.

Chen Lei is one of Zhou's patients, who underwent a cesarean surgery performed by Zhou 25 years ago. Chen also joined Zhou's initial talks in 2010 and subsequently, when she encountered some problems at the age of 50, she proactively approached Zhou for help.

"Doctor Zhou is not only my doctor but also my friend now," Chen said. It is Zhou's popularization and patient explanation that gives more women awareness and courage to receive medical treatments for menopausal diseases and embrace their "blossom age".

"Though seemingly serious at the hospital, she explains everything patiently and thoroughly to us patients," Chen added.

Zhou said: "I actually wasn't much of a talker before; I would just focus on outpatient services, surgeries and my own studies. Later, I realized that staying silent wasn't an option, so I started learning to speak up. Now, I lead my team to help them learn how to explain complex medical knowledge in simple terms."

Years of public popularization efforts have made Zhou quite well-known. More and more organizations invite her to give lectures for women, and many of her online courses have over one million individual views.

"Our team is bound to step out of Zhejiang and reach the whole country to benefit more women!" This was the promise Zhou and her team made to society 10 years ago. Today, they have fulfilled their promise.

Because she is a woman, she said, she understands women better.

Zhou said, "To ensure that every woman can bask in the sunshine of happiness and peace, as long as I am able to speak, I will continue to do so."

chenye@chinadaily.com.cn