Editor's note: The Sichuan-Tibet Plateau, a beautiful region that reaches toward the heavens, is a place showered with blue skies, covered in white clouds, and dotted with snow-covered mountains, but recently, something truly remarkable has been materializing among the households that call this place home. A groundbreaking historic change has been reshaping the land and its people. From today on, we will publish a series of stories to tell you those changes. 

Lack of technology and knowledgeable medical staff were a common occurrence during Sera's previous pregnancies and during the pregnancies of many other women throughout Luhuo County. Today's Maternal and Child Healthcare & Family Planning Center used to be known as the Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital, which only offered service with one ultrasound machine. Staff did not seem to know much about sterilization and most certainly were not capable of performing common surgical procedures, so it really was no wonder that their ability to diagnose and treat diseases was not necessarily something to incite optimism among patients.

In 2013, the Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital of Jinjiang District signed an agreement with the Maternal and Child Healthcare and Family Planning Center of Luhuo County concerning medical support, thereby launching a new project. Jinjiang was to help Luhuo construct main medical buildings, establish inpatient centers, and prepare a means to bring the existing medical system up to standard. Gynecology and obstetrics facilities were obviously a major component of the plan, and newborn wards, ORs, and delivery rooms were all constructed alongside them, with everything being fitted with the appropriate technology. Around one hundred clinical procedures were regulated to meet required standards, and a complete public health information system was designed and put into effect, with an Internet-based information platform being established to inform citizens within 18 of Luhuo's towns of important information regarding maternal and child healthcare along with chronic disease prevention and treatment.

After three years of hard work, the new facilities were formally opened to the public on September 12th of 2016. "It was a really cheerful day," Droma says, still remembering the opening ceremony. "Everybody was happy. When the women in our county heard that the new center is not only equipped with advanced equipment but also has Jinjiang doctors, they decided to give it another chance."

When dealing with a community, hardware can be nice, but it is the software that really keeps things going. That is why the Health and Family Planning Bureau of Jinjiang District has sent three medical experts to Luhuo: to provide two years of technical support, especially within clinics, and show the local human resources how to operate and manage everything for themselves.

The Chinese version of this story is written by Dai Hongyan and translated into English by Huang Wenjuan. And the story is sourced from the United Front Work Deparment of the Communist Party of China (CPC)Sichuan Provincial Committee.

Editor: Ana Wu