Free health messages are being provided through mobile phones for about 500,000 mothers and mothers-to-be in rural areas of Middle and West China.

The "Mom-baby Messenger" project, sponsored by medical products company Johnson & Johnson, is rolling out in 63 towns in seven provinces, including Hebei, Gansu and Henan. The service is also available in Beijing and will be expanded nationwide.

Promoted by the National Center for Women and Children's Health, the project aims to expand medical services to women in villages and encourage them to better utilize medical resources provided in local clinics.

By sending a text message of a baby's birth date or the expected date of confinement, subscribers will receive personalized health information for both mother and baby.

"The information covers reminders for regular health checks, healthy diets and the baby's physical and mental development. It will also teach new mothers how to communicate with their babies in an appropriate way," said Jin Xi, deputy director of the center.

According to the Fourth National Health Service Survey by the China CDC in 2008, pregnant women in rural areas who went through less than five health checks accounted for 43.9 percent of the total. Only half of the babies aged under 1 year had received more than three health checks.

According to the United Nations Millennium Goals Report in 2014, the maternal mortality ratio dropped by 45 percent between 1990 and 2013, from 380 to 210 deaths per 100,000 live births globally.

That is still far short of the MDG target to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters by 2015, said Shantha Bloemen, Chief of Communications and Partnership at United Nations Children's Fund China.