Tianjin Leads China's Rural Areas in Bidding Farewell to MidwivesThe rural areas of north China's Tianjin Municipality have taken the lead in saying goodbye to midwives, with almost all pregnant local women giving births in hospital.The Tianjin rural areas have a total of over one million women at and above the age of 18. Before the founding of New China in 1949, farmers led a poor life because of a backward rural economy. They had to find midwives for parturitions, resulting in a high mortality rate of pregnant women, at 1,000 per 100,000, and infant mortality at 28 percent. After 1949, the Tianjin municipal government vigorously improved maternity and child-care, with a great success. By 1996, the mortality rate of pregnant women had dropped to 28.61 per 100,000 and the infant mortality to 1.16 percent. The Municipal Health Bureau has set up departments of gynaecology and obstetrics in 176 clinics, bought many types of medical equipment, and has air conditioners and toilets installed in some wards. The Bureau has also trained more than 700 medical workers in professional knowledge and skills. An ordinary clinic has at least two medical workers with a secondary medical school education and more than two years' working experience. By the end of 2000, the parturition rate of Tianjin's rural pregnant women in hospital had reached to 99.02 percent, so that Tianjin took the lead in saying goodbye to midwives in China's rural areas. Furthermore, the mortality rate of pregnant women in Tianjin has dropped again to 18.27 per 100,000 and the infant mortality to 0.93 percent. |
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