Developing nations can learn from China's success in cutting infant, maternal mortality

China's experiences in reducing child and maternal mortality through implementing tailored policies and deploying innovative tools could help developing countries to save lives of mothers and babies and bolster global progress of improving health of these groups.

China's maternal mortality rate fell from 80 per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 15.7 last year, and its infant mortality rate decreased from 50.2 per 1,000 live births to 4.9 during the period, according to the National Health Commission.

Jiang Hong, a researcher from the Fudan University's School of Public Health, said that China has managed to achieve significant reduction in maternal and infant mortality and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas.

She said that a number of national programs and policies since the 1990s have played an effective role in improving health of mothers and babies, such as a national drive launched in 2000 that aims at reducing maternal fatality and eliminating neonatal tenuous.

For instance, Jiang said that in late 1990s, local governments in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region began training rural midwives who were familiar with local families to help health professionals mobilize pregnant women deliver at hospitals rather than abide by the conventional but risky approach of giving birth at home. These midwives also received training to offer basic prenatal and postnatal care for pregnant women.

"The immediate outcome was that villagers began to recognize the significance of delivery at hospitals," she said, adding that the rate of hospital deliveries rose from 46 percent in 1998 to nearly 100 percent in 2013 and local mortality rates had dropped markedly.

Zhou added that since 2019, researchers at her institute and the National Health Commission have cooperated to launch training for countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative while addressing remaining weaknesses in domestic systems.

Jiang spoke during a seminar held by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last week ahead of the release of its seventh annual Goalkeepers Report. This year's report focuses on resolving challenges in reducing maternal and newborn deaths.

The report said that global efforts significantly improved health of mothers and babies from 2000 to 2015 but progress has stalled since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Immediate action is needed to make low-cost and easy-to-implement innovations and practices available.

Yang Jianyue, deputy director of the Gates Foundation in China, said that the foundation is exploring approaches to enable developing countries to benefit from Chinese innovations, such as helping domestic enterprises to obtain qualification from the World Health Organization for a contraceptive implant to supply their products overseas.

Efforts are also underway to cooperate with domestic enterprises to reduce the costs of infusion of intravenous iron for women, which replenishes iron reserves during pregnancy so as to protect against and treat anemia, she added.

Jiang, from Fudan University, added that developing countries are not expected to completely copy China's practices.

"Some African countries might face similar social environments with those of China in the 1990s. We are hoping to share with them our experiences in formulating policies tailored to local condition, so as to gradually improve their maternal and child care services and advance development of medical technologies," she said.