China will devote more efforts to helping poverty-stricken
countries improve reproductive health, enhance safe childbirth and
curb diseases, a senior Chinese official said in Beijing on
Wednesday.
The Chinese Government will donate reproductive health products,
such as condoms, worth 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) to member
countries of South-South Co-operation (SSC), said Zhang
Weiqing.
Zhang, minister of the National Population and Family Planning
Commission, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the
International Workshop for Senior Officials on Capacity-Building in
Program Management on Population and Development.
The member countries of SSC are all developing countries, such
as China, India and South Africa, and account for 54 percent of the
global population.
China would like to share its management experience and
scientific research with other developing countries, not just its
money and products, said Zhao Baige, vice-minister of the
commission.
Zhang said that China will hold classes in developing countries,
especially those in Africa, to help train more people in family
planning and reproductive health issues.
"Every country has the right and freedom to choose their own
policies and practices in population development according to their
own situation. But co-operation and support from the outside world
are vital," Zhao said.
According to statistics from the United Nations, at least
500,000 women globally die of complications related to pregnancy
and childbirth each year. The majority of them are in developing
countries.
And about 3 million people are killed by HIV/AIDS every year.
The diseases caused by poor reproductive healthcare account for 20
percent of the world's total disease burden.
However, in recent years official investment in family planning
around the world has dropped from US$723 million in 1995 to US$461
million in 2003, Zhang said.
In the past 30 years, China has achieved a lot in family
planning and reproductive health improvement, said Hao Linna,
director of international co-operation of the commission.
Since it introduced family planning measures in the 1970s,
China's total fertility rate has declined from 5.8 to 1.8, avoiding
a further 400 million births by the end of 2005.
"You can imagine, if China had 1.7 billion residents now, what
would happen? We probably wouldn't have not enough food to eat,"
said Zhao.
(China Daily November 9, 2006)