Pediatrics in China: challenges and prospects

Excerpt

China has the largest number of children in the world. The population of children between 0 and 14 years of age was about 227 million in 2015. It is a great and arduous task to ensure the healthy growth of all children in China. Maternal and child health care in China has achieved significant improvements. China has achieved the Millennium Development Goal 4 [1], the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age showed an overall downward trend from 61.0 per 1000 in 1991 to 10.7 per 1000 in 2015 [2]. However, China still faces many challenges, such as the serious shortage of pediatricians, shortage and uneven distribution of medical resources, imbalances among different population groups and different regions. …