China's National Health Commission has released a work plan for the nationwide promotion¹ of pain relief during labor and delivery.

中国国家卫生健康委员会日前发布了在全国推广分娩镇痛的工作计划。

The three-year plan aims to make fewer mothers turn to C-sections to escape unbearable² labor pain, thus increasing rates of natural childbirth and lowering rates of cesarean delivery.

这项为期三年的计划，旨在减少因不能耐受分娩疼痛而选择剖腹产的产妇数量，从而提高自然分娩率、降低剖腹产率。

The country's lack of pain-free natural labor was brought into the spotlight³ in August last year, when a 26-year-old pregnant woman in Yulin, Shaanxi, jumped to her death in a maternity⁴ ward⁵ partly because she was in unbearable pain.

去年8月，陕西省榆林市一名26岁孕妇从产科病房跳楼身亡，部分原因是难忍疼痛。事件发生后，我国无痛自然分娩率低成为人们的关注焦点。

A number of hospitals will be chosen around the country to pilot labor pain relief services between 2018 and 2020, before they are widely promoted, according to the work plan.

根据这项工作计划，2018-2020年，我国将在全国范围内遴选出一定数量的医院试点分娩镇痛服务，之后进行大范围推广。

By the end of 2020, more than 40% of all deliveries in the pilot hospitals will be completed with the help of spinal⁶ or epidural anesthesia, or a combination of both.

2020年年底前，试点医院在腰麻、硬膜外麻醉和腰硬联合麻醉辅助下进行的分娩占比将达40%以上。

Painless delivery is yet to become common in China due to several factors, including a shortage of anesthetists at hospitals and widespread myths surrounding labor pain relief methods.

受医院麻醉人才短缺、一些有关分娩镇痛方法的谣言广泛传播等多种因素的影响，无痛分娩目前在我国尚未普及。

The commission also released two norms attached to the work plan, one regarding labor pain relief operation procedures and the other in analgesia⁷ technical management.

此外，国家卫健委还发布了该工作计划附带的两项规范，一项是分娩镇痛技术操作规范，另一项是分娩镇痛技术管理规范。