NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – PerkinElmer announced Tuesday it has signed an agreement to serve as the exclusive collaborator with China's National Health and Family Planning Commission to create and implement a newborn screening training program focused on rural China.

Under the three-year agreement, PerkinElmer will provide its diagnostic tests and expertise to develop and roll out a program that will "substantially increase adoption and access to newborn screening in China," the company said.

PerkinElmer will help train more than 3,000 doctors, clinicians, and lab technicians in 600 rural counties in sample collection, clinical diagnostics, and treatment, and will provide site inspections and program management.

The company will work with the National Maternal and Children Health Surveillance Office to implement the program, through which it will provide diagnostics to identify disorders in newborns, including tests for congenital hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria.

"As birth rates in China and demand for greater access to newborn screening in rural areas increases, PerkinElmer is responding with the advanced detection technologies, knowledge, and infrastructure that can help the NHFPC achieve better outcomes," Jim Corbett, president of Human Health for PerkinElmer, said in a statement.

PerkinElmer already conducts newborn screening in China and said that last year it screened more than 9 million babies in the country.