Furthermore, women gained knowledge of maternal and child's care to cut down the maternal and child's mortality rate and of emergency obstetric care, especially in rural area.

Measuring maternal mortality requires knowledge about deaths of women of reproductive age (15-49 years), the medical cause of death, and also whether or not the woman was pregnant at the time of death or had recently been so (AbouZahr, 1998).

(c) For the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, ACWF has been working to disseminate knowledge about maternity and children's health care and planned parenthood in both rural and urban areas in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health.

From 2000 to 2001, the Central Government and local governments appropriated a total of 200 million yuan renminbi for the implementation of a project aimed at reducing the incidence of maternal mortality and of tetanus in newborns in 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, in an effort to strengthen the building of obstetrics departments in rural hospitals and the training of local health and medical workers, as well as to assist the dissemination of knowledge concerning maternal and infant health.

The programme will provide technical and programmatic support to countries to: (a) build awareness of and ensure that integrated maternal health care (a continuum of care throughout the family planning, pregnancy, delivery and post-partum phases) is incorporated in initiatives to strengthen health systems, including strategies to address shortages in skilled professionals; (b) increase the focus on building and sharing knowledge on maternal morbidity and unsafe abortion; (c) develop advocacy to scale up programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV; (d) intensify efforts to mobilize resources for family planning and to support countries that have not made progress in reducing the unmet need for contraception; (e) improve technical guidance on counselling to ensure the use of appropriate contraceptive methods; and (f) lead a global awareness campaign to highlight the work done to improve maternal health and end fistula.

Achievements: Achievements include: [EU: increased attention to reproductive health and sexual and reproductive rights of women;][ Canada/ Holy See delete: a reduction in maternal mortality] [Holy See: in a few countries, some progress in reducing maternal mortality]; increased [EU: knowledge and] use of [EU delete: modern contraceptives] [Canada: including emergency contraception;] [EU: family planning methods; increased awareness among men of their responsibility in family planning]; [Canada/EU delete: the testing and development of male contraceptives;] increased attention to [EU: sexually transmitted diseases, including] human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) infection among women; the introduction of a gender perspective into [EU: health and] health-related educational [Canada: and physical] activities, including gender-specific tobacco [Canada: control] and drug prevention and rehabilitation programmes; increased recognition of the specific health [Canada delete: problems of older women] [Canada: needs of women throughout the life cycle; better recognition of women's role as essential primary health-care providers within their own families; increased participation of women as workers in the health-care system;] better prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases [Canada: including among women and girls]; increased attention to women's mental health; [EU: and increased attention to health conditions at work and environmental considerations] [Canada: and the reaffirmation by Governments to their commitment to promote women's reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed to at the five-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development by the General Assembly in July 1999.