The plight of pregnant women in rural China

Han

Ermei, a pregnant woman in her 30s, gets an antepartum examination in a public health center in her village this November. Although she initially mistrusted the center as it is poorly equipped and had made mistakes, she did her checkup here because she couldn't afford treatment in a better hospital downtown.

Han is from Luping village, Mayang county, in Huaihua city of Central China's Hunan province. Mayang county is one of 592 counties rated "poverty-stricken counties" in which China is making special efforts to alleviate poverty. Forty-eight percent of pregnant women in the county live in remote villages with little access to healthcare. [Photo/news.qq.com]