Abstract

PIP: The Chinese government has given a great deal of attention since the founding of the Republic in 1949 to maternal and child health (MCH) in the interest of protecting the health of mothers and children. MCH, preventive, and curative medicine are considered the three major tasks of China's health work. Safe motherhood and the decrease of maternal and infant mortality have been particularly marked since 1949, with maternal mortality declining from 1500/100,000 in 1949 to 94.7/100,000 in 1989, while infant mortality has been reduced by a factor of four as of 1986. There were 3181 MCH organizations in 1990, 35 times the number in 1949, 328 of which were maternity hospitals. 102,930 persons excluding the staff in general hospitals worked for MCH throughout the country in 1989, 23,538 more than in 1985. The number of women village doctors increased to 321,730 persons and that of birth attendants to 494,791 persons. MCH has clearly improved over the past ten years with the reform of the economic system and a newly adopted policy of openness. The author describes program organizations, manpower, professional education, perinatal health care service, risk approach in perinatal surveillance, the implementation of national policy on family planning, the prevention of common gynecologic diseases, perimenopausal and adolescent health care, international exchanges and cooperation, and problems encountered over the years.