Reproductive Health Services in Rural China: Changes and Challenges

Zhenzhen Zheng, Peking University

China launched the FP/RH quality of care experiment project in 1995, following an official call for reorientation of family planning programs from a focus on demographic targets to meeting clients' needs. Starting from just 6 counties/districts, now more than 800 counties/districts have implemented quality of care programs. However, more information is available from input and process components than from the output and outcomes thus far. The measurable outcome effect such as improvement in RH status of women is still not very clear. This paper describes FP/RH service use and outcomes from women's perspectives, to analyze observable changes during the late 1990s in rural China, and to discuss the challenges for quality of care implementation. Both 1997 and 2001 national RH survey data are used, with emphasis on service availability and usage.