PHA-Exchange> RURAL MORTALITY RATES IN CHINA OUTPACE URBAN AREAS BY UP TO SIX-FOLD - UN-BACKED REPORT

[Claudio]

From: "Vern Weitzel" <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au>

RURAL MORTALITY RATES IN CHINA OUTPACE URBAN AREAS BY UP TO SIX-FOLD – 
UN-BACKED REPORT
New York, Jan 12 2007  2:00PM
Mortality rates in China’s least developed rural areas, where just under 
half the country’s 1.3
billion people live, are four to six times higher than urban areas, 
accounting for three quarters of
total mortality, and the Government should give priority to ensuring 
universal maternal and child
health care, <" http://www.unicef.org/media/media_38010.html">according to a 
United Nations-backed
report launched in Beijing.

But despite serious concerns about slowing progress due to increasing 
disparities between urban and
rural areas as well as the state of vulnerable populations such as migrant 
workers, the world’s most
populous country is on track to reach Millennium Development Goals (<"
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals">MDGs) on maternal and child health.

MDGs 4 and 5, part of an ambitious eight-point programme adopted by the UN 
Millennium Summit of 2000
to drastically slash a host of social ills by 2015, aim to cut the mortality 
rate among children
under five by two thirds and the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters.

“Our challenge is to reach the most marginalized and vulnerable populations 
and ensure universal
access to affordable and equitable health care, for only equitable and 
harmonious development will
enable China to fully reach the Millennium Development Goals,” UNICEF 
representative Yin Yin Nwe said.

The report, the outcome of review conducted by the UNICEF, the UN World 
Health Organization (<"
http://www.who.int/en">WHO), the UN Population Fund (<" 
http://www.unfpa.org">UNFPA), and the
Chinese Health Ministry with assistance from national and international 
experts, calls for increased
funds for health services in poor areas, an effective strategy for human 
resource development and a
strengthened maternal and child health surveillance system.

While China is experiencing an epidemiological transition, with diarrhoea a 
significant cause of
death only in very remote areas, four or five causes of death remain 
responsible for over 75 per
cent of all maternal and child deaths, it notes.

With neonatal mortality and post-partum haemorrhage still leading causes of 
death, universal access
to essential obstetrical and neonatal care, as well some other key 
high-impact interventions such as
exclusive breast-feeding, have the potential to further reduce maternal 
mortality by 52 per cent and
child mortality by 34 per cent, the report says.