Women keep their faces covered with a traditional mask and veil even when they are in labor. After the baby is born, the family moves right into the mother's room at the hospital. To appear less conspicuous, Halverson also wore traditional clothing, but did not wear a mask. She said her blond hair and blue eyes raised some eyebrows when she accompanied her husband to the market. Health care facilities were often less than adequate, Halverson noted.
China has many different levels of care, with the best hospitals being in the city.
Those are a world apart from country hospitals, however. In the better hospitals, you might find a birthing room or two, she said. But in most hospitals, because of lack of space and over- population, five or six women will be lined up on delivery beds in a typical delivery room. Even that is high tech when compared with countries like Cambodia and Rwanda, where rebels have destroyed and looted many of the health care facilities, according to Halverson. These days, Halverson serves on he board of directors for World Relief, an organization that sent her to Cambodia in 1996-'97 to work on issues of women's and children's health.