Rural women hail free cervical cancer checks
Source: Xinhua |
December 8, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
QIU Yanping's husband puts his ear on her belly, hearing their baby's heartbeat - smooth and rhythmic, a sound from nature. The young couple beams with happiness.
"The prenatal examination showed both the mother and baby are fine," said You Yiping, chief of the obstetrics department of Hunan Tumor Hospital. "If all goes well, a caesarean section will be performed to welcome the baby when it reaches full-term."
When Qiu, 25, of Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture in central China's Hunan Province, learned in September she had cervical cancer, she feared the worst. But an operation saved her.
Additionally, women diagnosed with cervical cancer usually have little chance to become pregnant. Even more so for those in the countryside, who have limited access to better health-care resources.
"Fortunately, doctors discovered and removed the cancer cells in time," Qiu said, adding that she even received her operation for free. "They gave me a second life. I had no chance to become a mother without them."
Breast and cervical cancers are the leading killers of rural women in China. In fact, maternity death rate among rural women is two times that of their urban counterparts.
To close the gap, the semi-official All China's Women Federation launched a nationwide program last year to provide free cervical cancer screening for 10 million women in the countryside during the next three years. The program will also provide free breast cancer screening for 1.2 million rural women.
Gao Zhizhong, a family planning official in northwest Shaanxi Province, said nearly 1,000 women in the province benefited from the free screening program.
Health officials said, as the next step, they were also considering moves to subsidize the treatment of gynecological diseases in the countryside.
"The prenatal examination showed both the mother and baby are fine," said You Yiping, chief of the obstetrics department of Hunan Tumor Hospital. "If all goes well, a caesarean section will be performed to welcome the baby when it reaches full-term."
When Qiu, 25, of Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture in central China's Hunan Province, learned in September she had cervical cancer, she feared the worst. But an operation saved her.
Additionally, women diagnosed with cervical cancer usually have little chance to become pregnant. Even more so for those in the countryside, who have limited access to better health-care resources.
"Fortunately, doctors discovered and removed the cancer cells in time," Qiu said, adding that she even received her operation for free. "They gave me a second life. I had no chance to become a mother without them."
Breast and cervical cancers are the leading killers of rural women in China. In fact, maternity death rate among rural women is two times that of their urban counterparts.
To close the gap, the semi-official All China's Women Federation launched a nationwide program last year to provide free cervical cancer screening for 10 million women in the countryside during the next three years. The program will also provide free breast cancer screening for 1.2 million rural women.
Gao Zhizhong, a family planning official in northwest Shaanxi Province, said nearly 1,000 women in the province benefited from the free screening program.
Health officials said, as the next step, they were also considering moves to subsidize the treatment of gynecological diseases in the countryside.
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