The nurse's story

Yan Ruizhi, 29, a nurse at a branch office of the Xishan district center for women and children's health in Kunming, had a premarital checkup with her husband in 2009 as part of a promotion on the first day the center offered free premarital physical examinations.

Yan's office is located on the first floor of the district government office building. The marriage registration desk is at the far end of a long corridor with several medical checkup rooms, "The setup encourages more people to get the checkups," said Yan.

The health check requires personal information, including a family history of disease and the patient's previous treatment records. A blood test covers contagious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and syphilis.