The 2018 national conference on maternal and child health was held in Beijing on February 1. Ma Xiaowei, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) attended the conference and delivered a speech.

Ma Xiaowei (left), vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission attends the conference and delivers a speech.

Ma noted that the health condition of women and children greatly improved in the past year. The maternal mortality rate decreased to 19.6 per 100,000, and the infant mortality rate and under-five child mortality rate also dropped to 0.68 percent and 0.91 percent respectively, showcasing the stability of maternal and child safety.

Ma urged that effective measures should be taken to further improve maternal and child health. “We will launch maternal and child safety campaign and healthy children campaign to safeguard maternal and child health and to promote children’s all-round development. We should optimize policies to push forward the prevention and control of birth defects,” he added, “we should improve the service for family planning and optimize allocation of resources in order to achieve balanced development in the health sector.”

Jiang Fan, Party committee secretary of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center gives a special lecture.

Officials from relevant local health departments attended the conference.