China's population is expected to enjoy better reproductive
healthcare in the coming years as the country carries out three
programs to strengthen its efforts in this field.
The three programs, all started in 2001, are: Improving the
Quality of Contraceptive Care, Reproductive Tract Infection
Intervention and Healthy Baby Promotion.
The programs are now under way in 19 provinces, autonomous
regions and municipalities, and results in some regions are
encouraging, said Xiao Shaobo, a senior official with the National
Population and Family Planning Commission.
Xiao made the remarks at Peking
University at a special session of the seventh meeting of the
World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Advisory Panel for Asia
and the Pacific.
Data suggest that intervention in birth defects in east China's
Shandong
Province has already helped reduce the high rate of problem
births there.
In the future, the commission will strive to bring such programs
into the country's medium- and long-term planning for scientific
and technological development, and the national HIV prevention and
control plans, Xiao said.
He also noted the contributions of the WHO and stated that
Chinese scientists stand ready to help other countries.
Professor Zheng Xiaoying, director of the Institute of
Population Research at Peking University/WHO Collaborating Center
and head of the program on birth defect intervention, suggests the
information and experience they have acquired should be published
as soon as possible and shared with other countries.
Zheng and other experts will further discuss their development
strategy on population at the four-day meeting. Also at the
meeting, proposals from member countries will be reviewed and
approved, if appropriate; regional support priorities will be
selected; and future work will be planned.
China is a huge market for reproductive health products and
services. There were 344 million women aged 15 and 49 years old in
2000, and 251 million were married. Each year 7.5 million women are
newly married.
(China Daily March 24, 2004)