A campaign to educate students about contraception will be
launched in March, medical experts said yesterday.
The move follows survey revelations that an astonishing two
percent of Chinese women - compared with 30 to 50 percent of
Western women - use the contraceptive pill.
The program - to comprise a Website and a series of college
campus lectures - will focus on Shanghai, Beijing and
Guangzhou.
It is an initiative of the newly-established China Contraception
Alliance.
A TV talk show, a national education tour and a program to offer
doctors advice will kick off later next year.
In a bid to improve women's health and compile scientific
information about contraception, the Chinese Medical Doctor
Association, China Health Education Association, All-China Women's
Federation and Bayer HeathCare launched the alliance, the nation's
first facility to focus on the subject.
"Unlike private doctors in the West, Chinese doctors only
receive patients with problems and give treatment," said Dr Fan
Guangsheng, the alliance's president and director of Chinese
Medical Association's family planning branch. "Very few Chinese
people go to hospitals to seek advice about appropriate
contraception and we want to change that culture."
"Though there are various vehicles to access contraception
knowledge - and the government has made efforts to promote this
information - public understanding of contraception still needs be
strengthened, especially voluntary contraception."
(Shanghai Daily December 20, 2007)