Mainland doctors and health officials say the training of more grass-roots medical professionals, working in county and village clinics, is the key to bringing down infant mortality rates, which are much higher in the countryside than in cities.
One in five neonatal deaths on the mainland are caused by asphyxia, the No2 killer of infants after premature birth, but a joint Sino-US project has seen cases halved in some hospitals. The challenge now is to replicate that progress in more remote regions.
Wang Danhua , a paediatrician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, says that in some western provinces, such as Ningxia, 80 per cent of babies are born at home. 'Although the central government encourages delivery at hospitals by subsidising or even totally writing off the medical cost, many residents of western regions are still reluctant to go to hospitals for a delivery,' she said.
Experts said some impoverished regions lacked the guidelines and equipment essential for preventing infant deaths from asphyxia, while others had few chances to learn the skills. 'I've seen some really cutting-edge equipment in some grass-roots hospitals that has never been used,' Wang said.
Shenzhen mother Xu Lin is grateful to the doctors and nurses who helped with the birth of her daughter two years ago. They saved the infant, who was not breathing and had no heartbeat when delivered. The girl is now quite healthy.
'I was 40, an old age for pregnancy, and my health was poor,' Li said. 'When pregnant for 33 weeks, I met with an emergency and had a massive haemorrhage. When sent to the hospital, I was in shock due to too much blood loss.'
Her daughter let out her first cry after being resuscitated by doctors soon after birth, but many more mainland families are not so lucky.