Media Center

Chen Quanxiang gazes at her four-day-old daughter, her face serene and smiling as she attempts to nurse.

She has had a long week. Several days before delivery, Chen woke up in excruciating pain. Her legs and feet had swollen, paralyzing her. Her mother-in-law rushed her to the township doctor, who ran a blood test and diagnosed hypertension. Chen was then taken to a county hospital and admitted as a high-risk delivery. After some deliberation, a successful C-Section was performed, bringing a healthy baby girl into the world.

As Chen and her daughter rest together in the hospital ward, both are exhausted.” We are very lucky,” says Chen. Indeed, hypertension is one of the leading causes of maternal death in China. In undeveloped areas such as Jiangxi, the numbers of maternal deaths is three to five times the national average.

The UNICEF-supported safe Motherhood Initiative provides high-quality obstetric care and timely hospital referrals to women like Chen. The initiative connects township and county hospitals with the village birth attendants who typically assist with births in rural China. In Chen's case, it probably saved her life and that of her baby.