Chinese province makes labour pain relief pledge to ease childbirth jitters

Hainan says labour pain relief will be covered by public health insurance, part of broader plan to boost birth rates

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A Chinese province is attempting to ease concerns over the physical stress of childbirth with a plan to include labour pain treatment in public health insurance policies. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:00am, 22 Nov 2024

Localities in China are subsidising the use of pain relief treatments during childbirth – a practice patients often shy away from due to high costs – in one of many trial policies authorities are implementing to reverse a pronounced decline in fertility rates.

Hainan, the country’s island province in the far south, has pledged to include labour pain relief in government medical insurance plans to reduce the costs of childbearing and help ease anxieties over the birthing process.

The move, announced as part of a broader plan on Wednesday, is one approach to implementing China’s strategy for building a “birth-friendly society”.

A commentary in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, also called on officials to lighten the burdens of potential parents.

“Reduce the costs of childbirth, childcare and education, so that more people dare to and are willing to have children,” it said, urging more sophisticated policies to be rolled out at the local level. “Maintaining a reasonable fertility level and a balanced population structure are of great significance to the sustainable economic and social development and long-term stability.”

Traditionally, pain relief during natural childbirth has been avoided over concerns related to side effects, and if used the entire cost is frequently borne by patients.

Less than a third of Chinese women were provided with pain relief during childbirth in 2022, said anaesthetist Mi Weidong during an event for the Global Day Against Pain that year. Mi led a team instructed by the country’s National Health Commission to research childbirth pain relief.