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BEIJING, Feb. 25 -- A small percentage of couples are getting premarital
medical check-ups, and the number of hereditary and infectious diseases among
infants has been rising.
So, the State Council, will issue a document focusing on how to raise
public awareness and to make the checkups more convenient, Wang Bin, director of
the Division of Women's Health with the Ministry of Health, said on Friday.
For example, social workers will be available at every registration station
to inform couples of the advisability of getting the check-up, Wang said.
He said one of the State Council goals in strengthening the premarital exam
is to reduce the rate of hereditary and even sexually transmitted illnesses.
Before the law in China was changed in October 2003, all couples had to
show the result of the check-ups to get a certificate.
But since then, for example, in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's
Heilongjiang Province, only about 3 per cent of marriage licence applicants had
been examined. In many other places, the rate is 1 per cent or lower.
Of all reported HIV/AIDS cases last year, mother-baby infections account
for 1 per cent, said Wu Zunyou of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Absence of the premarital tests removes the last line of defence against
those infections, Wu said.
Even so, people still have shown little passion for the campaign.
"So it is not only a question of money but of public awareness," Wang said.
In some places, such as Central China's Hubei Province, the government
began paying for those tests from late 2004.
But even if the couples have to pay, the cost of such a check-up is about
100 yuan (US$12), not a burden for most couples. In rural areas, a family
usually spends at least 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) on a wedding.
The document will caution against such diseases as hepatitis, syphilis, and
tuberculosis, and will suggest that patients delay their marriage if treatment
for at least one of those diseases is necessary.
(Source: China Daily) | 
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