BEIJING, Oct. 12 -- During the period of the tenth five-year plan (2001-2005), health status of Chinese urban and rural residents continued to improve.

    At present, China has established a medical service system consisting of 300,000 various levels and types of medical service institutions around the country, and health care in China has witnessed remarkable achievements.

    According to statistics, China's average life expectancy has increased to 71.8 years, infant mortality rate reduced to 2.55%, mortality rate of children below five years old fell to 2.99%, and mortality rate of pregnant and lying-in women also declined to 0.0513%.

    Changes in these major indices show that health status of Chinese people has reached a relatively high level of developing countries. China will stick to the principle of focusing on the people and realize coordinated development of health care, economy and society.

    Hospitalized delivery rate in urban and rural areas of China climbed to 91.4% and 77.1%, respectively, in 2004, marking that China has realized the goal of increasing the hospitalized delivery rate in rural areas to 65% ahead of the scheduled time of 2010.

    Since the New-Cooperative-Medical-Service-To-Farmers started trial operation in July 2003, 156 million farmers have benefited from the program.

    The Ministry of Health released the September epidemic report today, indicating that the overall incidence rate remained stable, the planning immunity inoculation rate for children maintained a high level, and Hepatitis B Vaccine has been included in immunity inoculation plan for children.

    (Source: Chinanews.cn)