China will strive to improve healthcare in rural areas, Chinese
President Jiang Zemin said on Tuesday in a letter to a national
conference on public health in rural areas.
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)