China will devote more efforts to helping poverty-stricken countries improve reproductive health, enhance safe childbirth and curb diseases, a senior Chinese official said yesterday in Beijing.

The Chinese Government will donate reproductive health products, such as condoms, worth 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) to member countries of South-South Co-operation (SSC), said Zhang Weiqing.

Zhang, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the International Workshop for Senior Officials on Capacity-Building in Programme Management on Population and Development.

The member countries of SSC are all developing countries, such as China, India and South Africa, and account for 54 per cent of the global population.

China would like to share its management experience and scientific research with other developing countries, not just its money and products, said Zhao Baige, vice-minister of the commission.

Zhang said that China will hold classes in developing countries, especially those in Africa, to help train more people in family planning and reproductive health issues.

"Every country has the right and freedom to chose their own policies and practices in population development according to their own situation. But co-operation and support from the outside world are vital," Zhao said.

According to statistics from the United Nations, at least 500,000 women globally die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth each year. The majority of them are in developing countries.

And about 3 million people are killed by HIV/AIDS every year. The diseases caused by poor reproductive healthcare account for 20 per cent of the world's total disease burden.

However in recent years official investment in family planning around the world has dropped from US$723 million in 1995 to US$461 million in 2003, Zhang said.

In the past 30 years, China has achieved a lot in family planning and reproductive health improvement, said Hao Linna, director of international co-operation of the commission.

Since it introduced family planning measures in the 1970s, China's total fertility rate has declined from 5.8 to 1.8, avoiding a further 400 million births by the end of 2005.

"You can imagine, if China had 1.7 billion residents now, what would happen? We probably wouldn't have not enough food to eat," said Zhao.

Source: China Daily