BEIJING: China has made substantial progress in pre-pregnancy and prenatal screenings, as well as other disability prevention initiatives over the past decade, official figures show.
During a news conference on Wednesday ahead of National Disability Prevention Day on Sunday, Li Dachuan, deputy director of the National Health Commission’s department of medical administration, said the rate of national premarital screenings for genetic diseases reached 76.5 percent last year.
It was just 2.5 percent in 2005 and 41 percent rate in 2011, according to official statistics.
Li told the news conference in Beijing that China’s pre-pregnancy checkup rate has long exceeded 90 percent, and the prenatal screening rate was 90.3 percent last year, up from about 30 percent in 2012.
He said China has also rolled out a comprehensive newborn disease screening program that encompasses screenings for hearing impairments and two genetic disorders — congenital hypothyroidism, a medical condition in which a baby is born with an underactive thyroid gland, and diabetes mellitus with complications, in which a person with diabetes experiences additional health issues or complications due to the disease. “The rate of coverage for these screenings exceeded 98 percent across the nation in 2023,” he said. The improvements are part of the nation’s broader initiatives to enhance the health of its people and respond to its rapidly aging population and declining birthrate. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
