According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, the mortality rate for children under the age of 5 dived from 61 deaths per 1,000 births in 1991 to 15.6 deaths per 1,000 births in 2011. The government has set a target of reducing the ratio to less than 13 deaths per 1,000 births by 2020.

However, the infant mortality rate in rural areas is nearly three times that of urban areas, with premature births, pneumonia, congenital heart disease and accidental asphyxia claiming many young lives.

To narrow the yawning urban-rural gap, the Central Government launched a campaign to promote hospital births in central and western rural areas in 2000, expanding it nationwide in 2009. The campaign provides a subsidy of 400 yuan ($63) for women who choose to give birth in hospital.

From 2009 to 2011, the Central Government poured 7.9 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) into the program, raising the country's rural hospital birth rate to 96.7 percent from 92.3 percent in 2008.