Jiang said the Chinese government had placed great importance on public health in rural areas and had just announced a new plan to further improve rural sanitation and healthcare.

The national conference on public health in rural areas which opened in Beijing on Tuesday, will discuss such topics as how to revitalize the cooperative health care system for rural dwellers, push forward restructuring of rural hospitals and improve the education and supervision of rural medical workers.

China has succeeded in protecting people from such deadly diseases as cholera, plague and smallpox since the 1960s.

The infant mortality rate has dropped from 200 per thousand babies in 1949 to 33.8 per thousand last year; while the mortality rate of rural pregnant women fell from 1,500 every 100, 000 in 1949 to 61.9 per 100,000 last year. And the average life expectancy of rural dwellers has risen from 35 years some 50 years ago to 69.6 years old in 2000.

A public health network and a considerable number of doctors have been set up in rural areas with a cooperative health care system.

90 Percent of Children to Be Inoculated

More than 90 per cent of children in rural areas will be inoculated against common epidemic diseases by 2010, under a health-care blueprint announced by the central government Tuesday.

Another aim of the rural health-care blueprint is that 95 per cent of counties implement modern measures against tuberculosis by 2010.

Also by 2010, 75 per cent of townships will offer HIV carriers and AIDS patients appropriate health care and 95 per cent of counties should have eliminated iodine deficiency.

These targets are just some of those covered by the State Council resolution on strengthening health-care work in rural areas. The resolution was released Tuesday in Beijing at a national conference on public health work in rural areas, being held by the State Council, China's cabinet.

The State Council resolution also aims to improve disease control in rural areas.

It will be guaranteed that all township health centers can help pregnant women give birth, while county-level heath centers should be able to deal with dystocia (difficult or prolonged childbirth), the resolution said.

By 2010, the mortality rate of pregnant women giving birth should have decreased by 25 per cent compared with 2000, while the infant mortality rate should have dropped by 20 per cent.

Measures will be taken to lower the incidence of birth defects and improve the health of infants.

The resolution said that different regions, based on their circumstances, should provide the rural population with access to tap water and hygienic washrooms.

Knowledge about the prevention of diseases, sanitation and health care should be spread among the rural population through various means to help rural people form good sanitary habits.

According to the resolution, a complete health-care system will be established in rural areas and will be composed of government, collective, social and private medical institutions.

Efforts should be made to attract funds from various channels to develop non-governmental medical institutions and to encourage medical staff in urban areas to work in rural areas.

The resolution said that health-care staff in rural areas should receive training to upgrade their skills.

Higher-learning institutes specializing in medical science should consider the actual needs of rural areas and offer syllabuses that can meet those needs.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2002)