Bolstered newborn screening could help fight against disease

Chengdu - Chinese health experts called for a strengthened newborn screening program to detect congenital disorders as early as possible, which would allow timely intervention and prevent serious consequences.

"Such a program helps secure a newborn's right to health, but by 2009 only 57 percent of Chinese babies were screened, which lags far behind Western countries," Zhu Jun, director of the National Maternal and Child Health Surveillance Office, told China Daily on Wednesday.

Initiated in the 1980s in eastern provinces, the program includes testing for three disorders: phenylketonuria (PKU), hypothyroidism and infant hearing.