China has mandated that all tertiary level hospitals provide epidural anaesthesia during childbirth by the end of 2025, claiming that this will contribute to a “friendly childbearing environment” for women.
China’s national health commission (NHC) said last week that tertiary hospitals (those with more than 500 beds) must provide epidural anesthesia treatments by 2025, while secondary hospitals (those with more than 100 beds) must do so by 2027.
Authorities are attempting to increase birth rates in the world’s second largest economy after China’s population declined for the third year in a row in 2024, with experts predicting that the decline may intensify in the future years.
Around 30% of pregnant women in China receive anaesthesia to relieve pain during childbirth, compared with more than 70% in some developed countries, the official China Daily said.
The World Health Organisation recommends epidurals for healthy pregnant women requesting pain relief and it is widely used in many countries around the world, including France, where around 82% of pregnant women opt to have one, and in the US and Canada where more than 67% do.
The move will “improve the comfort level and security of medical services” and “further enhance people’s sense of happiness and promote a friendly childbearing environment”, the NHC said.
To encourage more women to have children, a growing number of Chinese provinces are including the cost of birthing anesthesia in their medical insurance systems.
High childcare costs, employment insecurity, and a faltering economy have deterred many young Chinese from marrying and establishing families.
This month, health officials in China’s southern Sichuan province advocated increasing marriage leave to 25 days and maternity leave to 150 days in order to assist establish a “fertility-friendly society”.
