Women are making a stronger presence in the fields of science and technology. Today we share the story of a female doctor who developed an AI-assisted cervical cancer screening technology to help counter the problems of lacking pathology resources in rural and remote areas of China. Zhou Yixin has more. 

Each year in China, about 300 million women aged 35-64 need to get screened for cervical cancer. 

But in rural and remote areas, where pathology resources are limited, the large-scale government-led cervical cancer screening program has long faced challenges. 

Challenges are now being overcome with the help of one company. 

This AI-assisted cervical cancer screening technology was developed by Landing Med, a company founded by Dr. Sun Xiaorong. It makes the government's goal of providing high quality screening for over tens of millions of women in Hubei province and beyond possible. 

The technology has helped pathologists increase their diagnostic efficiency and accuracy. It also helps transcend geographical limitations, so more women can get screened. 

DR. SUN XIAORONG Chairman, Landing Med "What's different about our technology is that we don't depend entirely on pathologists' subjective experience to make a diagnosis. The technology uses our AI big data model trained on billions of cells to analyze each cell of the sample to provide an objective initial diagnosis of whether there are suspicious cells." 

The most common way of diagnosing cervical cancer is pathologists observing a cell specimen under a microscope. 

A pathologist can only review about 100 samples in a day, but the AI model can flag abnormal cells and help each pathologist screen more than 500 cases a day. This is a significant improvement. 

To make the technology more accessible to people in rural areas is one of Dr. Sun Xiaorong's main wishes. For now, the lab has been gathering a large amount of screening samples from county-level hospitals and township health centers. But she wants to make it even more convenient, and easy for both doctors and patients. That's why the company designed a portable device for small-scale pathology testing. 

At a community hospital in Hubei province, Dr. Sun is introducing the functions of AI-assisted cervical cancer screening and remote digital pathology devices to doctors. 

DR. SUN XIAORONG Chairman, Landing Med "After community hospitals and township health centers adopt our equipment, more people can enjoy the convenience and high-end services brought by AI and digital technologies. So, the hospitals don't even need to have in-house pathologists to make a diagnosis." 

Dr. Sun said, with China's rapid digitalization, the platforms provided by the country's tech giants as well as support from the government, she's optimistic about the prospects of the AI-assisted cervical cancer screening and remote pathology diagnosis. She hopes the technology will soon benefit more women in China and even around the world. 

Zhou Yixin, CGTN, Wuhan, Hubei Province.