The world's most populous nation is building a national network to monitor and prevent possibly harmful side-effects of contraceptives.

About 100 monitoring stations are expected to be operating across China by 2010, Xinhua News Agency learned at a national population and family planning science and technology conference on Thursday.

The government had initiated monitoring and evaluation research on contraceptive medicines and instruments over the past five years in Anhui and Sichuan provinces and the two municipalities of Shanghai and Chongqing.

The pilot program is expected to see a monitoring station in each of 10 counties of 10 different provinces by 2007.

Research had shown that contraceptive medicines possibly contributed to cardiovascular diseases, while some people using hypodermic medication reported headaches.

Researchers would also visit contraceptive users through the family planning network that covers almost every village in China to gather more samples.

Chinese researchers had carried out safety studies on contraceptive medicines in the 1990s in east Jiangsu Province, but the nationwide program was the first of its kind, said Li Ying, head of Jiangsu Family Planning Science and Technology Research Institute.

Apart from setting relevant technological standards, research software had been developed to help set up a database on the safety, efficacy and risks of using contraceptives.

China has around 200 million couples of reproductive age. The government is giving away contraceptives worth 420 million yuan (US$52.5 million) to the public this year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2006)