China will try its best to participate in international cooperation aimed at ensuring better health for women and children, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of a multi-billion-US dollar plan of the United Nations to save the lives of women and children, Wen said China is confident of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Chinese government has attached great importance to protecting the health of women and children, establishing the legal framework and service network, and building facilities across the country, said Wen.

China has made significant progress in fulfilling the MDGs on the health of women and children, with the maternity mortality rate and child mortality rate under the age of five in 2009 being lowered by 66.4 percent and 71.8 percent from the 1990 levels, respectively, he added.

There are now over 3,000 women and children healthcare institutions with a total staff of over 500,000, covering both rural and urban areas.

Wen urged the international community to boost the global economic recovery and promote peace stability to provide the economic support required for reducing poverty and facilitating healthcare endeavor for women and children in developing countries, in addition to capacity building in ensuring better healthcare for women and children.

Wen was in New York for the UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the general debate of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, a summit of the UN Security Council member states and a high-level discussion panel on AIDS and the MDGs.

About 140 heads of state and government attended the three-day MDG summit at the UN Headquarters where they will make new commitments to meeting the MDGs before the 2015 deadline.

The MDGs, forged at a UN summit in 2000, include eight ambitious goals such as reducing extreme poverty in the world by half, cutting infant and maternal mortality, establishing universal primary education and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2010)