Nation's reproductive care enjoying healthy rebirth
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-24 01:15

China's population is expected to enjoy better reproductive healthcare in the coming years as the country carries out three programmes to strengthen its efforts in the burgeoning field.

The three programmes, all started in 2001, are the Programme for Improving the Quality of Contraceptive Care, Reproductive Tract Infection Intervention Programme and Healthy Baby Promotion Programme.

By now the programmes have included 19 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and results in some regions are "encouraging," said Xiao Shaobo, senior official with the National Population and Family Planning Commission.

Xiao made the remarks at a special session of the seventh meeting of WHO Regional Advisory Panel for Asia and the Pacific, which started at Peking University.

Data suggest that intervention in birth defects in East China's Shandong Province has already helped in reducing the high rate problematic births there.

In the future, the commission will strive for bringing such programmes into the country's medium and long-term planning for scientific and technological development, and the national HIV prevention and control actions, Xiao said.

The official also noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) has been making contributions.

And as a kind of return, Chinese scientists said they are ready to help other countries.

Professor Zheng Xiaoying, director of the Institute of Population Research at Peking University/WHO Collaborating Centre who headed the programme on birth defect intervention, suggests the experience they gained should be published as soon as possible and be shared with other countries.

Zheng and other experts will further discuss their development strategy on population at the WHO Regional Advisory Panel for Asia and the Pacific.

The four-day meeting will also exam and approve proposals from member countries, choose regional support priorities and make work planning.

China is a huge market for reproductive health products and services.

According to official statistics, there were 344 million women aged 15 and 49 years old by the year 2000. Among them, 251 million women are married and each year 7.46 million women are newly married.

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