China to further improve safety of pregnancy, childbirth

BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China will strive to lower its infant mortality rate to 5.2 deaths per 1,000 births by 2025, according to an action plan to improve the safety of pregnancy and childbirth.

The plan, posted on the official website of the National Health Commission on Thursday, also aims to lower the mortality rate of pregnant and postnatal women to 14.5 deaths per 100,000 people by the same year.

The action plan listed five areas in which more efforts will be made, including risk prevention during pregnancy and improvements in the quality of relevant medical and healthcare services such as prenatal care.