Table 1 National and local Shanghai initiatives to promote evidence-based obstetric care from 1999

1. Women's Peace Hospital launched the Chinese version of the WHO Reproductive Health Library containing systematic reviews and commentaries.

2. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF promotion of mother- friendly initiatives, to support a wellness model of maternity care to improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs which had reliable evidence as a base [39].

3. The women's health care division of China Preventive Medicine Association (CPMA):

   ▪ emphasised humane care and the reduction of interventions during childbirth through their national academic conference in Guangzhou in 2002 [40]

   ▪ developed the Advanced Learning Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) training program in China to help obstetricians grasp the latest knowledge and skills; the ALSO textbook has been translated into Chinese [41]

   ▪ initiated a project in 13 maternal and child health hospitals in 6 cities to support normal birth and promote evidence-based obstetric care that is humane and women-friendly [42].

4. Evidence from systematic reviews in reproductive health were summarized and translated, to recommend change to service providers, by researchers at Fudan University School of Public Health [43].