China's top health and disease control authorities on Friday called for better training for maternal and child health care practitioners.

Song Li, a maternal and child health care official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission, described the problem of overweight mothers as "very serious" in China, with the incidence of macrosomia - also known as big baby syndrome at delivery - as high as 10 percent, due to a lack of maternal knowledge.

Song, who is attending a two-day national gathering of more than 100 maternal and child health care practitioners in Beijing, revealed that China reported an average cesarean delivery rate of 46 percent, or even as high as 70 to 80 percent in some regions, the highest in the world.

The figure is three times greater than the standard set by the World Health Organization.

The gathering, the first of its kind in China, was sponsored by the commission and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Educating pregnant women can help reduce maternal mortality and birth defects. Song would like to see specific standards for maternal education certificates created.

More maternal and health care training will be carried out for the country's practioners, the official said.