BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH WOMEN'S HEALTH: MODERN ...

Chen did institute successful programs to lower the high maternal, infant, and child
mortality rates. The 1934 figures for Dingxian show infant mortality at 185.2 per 1,000 live
births; death among people under 5 years old was 44.5 percent (partly because of epidemics of
dysentery and scarlet fever that year). The death rate among children under 2 years of age was
200 per 100,000. Chen instituted a program for mothers to learn aseptic child-care techniques
and receive pre- and postnatal home visits. They also “persuaded a continually growing number
of women to deliver their babies at the district center under qualified care.” 253 Chen remarked
that although the mortality “figures reflected a lamentably low health level, we were making
progress. The rates of puerperal sepsis, tetanus neonatorum, and problems related to childbirth
and early infancy in general were declining.” 254 Although efforts at midwife training were not
succeeding, health education programs aimed at mothers seemed to lower the mortality rates.
Another rural health expert, Li Tingan, “lamented that because of their lack of education
many older midwives failed to grasp the basic concepts of modern medicine, reverting to
traditional methods soon after graduating from the course. Sometimes visual reminders were
used to ensure that correct procedures were followed in delivery. For example, midwives were
told to put two drops of medicine from a bottle with a red label (containing silver nitrate) into the
eyes of newborns to prevent blindness. In addition, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly turned down
funding requests for Li’s midwife education efforts. Finally, the Sino-Japanese War ended the
experiment in 1937. Still, whatever their limitations, retrained midwives provided a vital service
to rural families when modern health personnel were not available.” 255 Furthermore, despite its
shortcomings, the two-tier method of midwife training and the xian-based public health system
253 Ibid.
254 Ibid., 87.
255 Yip, Health and National Reconstruction, 167.
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