Medical facilities capable of delivering babies are vanishing from Fukushima Prefecture's rural regions.
In the town of Hanawa, Hanawa Kousei Hospital stopped handling childbirths at the end of February, leaving just 26 medical facilities in seven cities in the prefecture that can handle deliveries.
The number represents a decrease of about 40% over the past decade, which reflects a growing concentration of childbirths in urban areas. Municipal governments are increasingly concerned that changes in the environment for pregnancy and childbirth may accelerate population decline.
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