Medical and Health Services in China

(scio.gov.cn)

Updated: 2014-06-13

Maintenance of people's mental health has been valued. China issued the Mental Health Law to regulate the mental health services and protect the rights and interests of people with mental disorders. The Chinese government strives to improve the prevention and treatment network of severe mental illnesses, enhance the ability of mental healthcare institutions to treat and cure acute or severe mental illnesses, and has established a working mechanism for severe mental illness prevention and treatment in which psychiatric hospitals and communities support and cooperate with each other. China has included professionals in mental health services as the urgently needed task during the 12th Five-Year Plan, and has intensified their training. It has standardized patient services and management, launched a basic data collection and analysis system for severe mental illnesses, and digitized data on patients. At present, there are 3.026 million people with serious mental disorders in China's urban and rural areas who are receiving standard management at their homes.

V. Protecting Women and Children's Right to Health

Currently, China has 860 million women and children, accounting for two thirds of the nation's total population. The Chinese government has established gender equality as a basic national policy, and has always attached great importance to the life and health of women and children. The state strives to improve the legal regime and related policies regarding women and children's healthcare, and has signed many international conventions committed to the protection of women and children. China has improved its health services for women and children, and implemented public health service programs for them, focusing on making these services more equitable and accessible so as to effectively protect women and children's right to health.

The legal regime and related policies regarding women and children's healthcare have been improved. In October 1994, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress reviewed and passed the Law on Healthcare for Mothers and Infants, which signaled that China's management of women and children's affairs had entered a law-based stage. Since the 1990s, the Chinese government has enacted the Program for the Development of Chinese Women (1995-2000), Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001-2010), Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2011-2020), Program for the Development of Chinese Children in the 1990s, Program for the Development of Chinese Children (2001-2010) and Program for the Development of Chinese Children (2011-2020), giving priority to women and children's health in national programs of economic and social development.

The health service system for women and children has been improved. China's healthcare system for women and children takes professional women and children's health organizations as its core and is based on community-level urban and rural healthcare services. With technical support from large and medium-sized general hospitals and relevant research and training institutions, the state provides all-round healthcare services for women and children. The country publishes annual reports on women and children's healthcare progress and has developed the world's largest monitoring network in this regard, keeping track of cases of birth defects, deaths of pregnant and lying-in women, deaths of children under five years of age, and complicated cases of pregnant and lying-in women, as well as children's nutrition and health. The information collected on women and children's health has provided a solid statistical basis for governments at all levels to formulate healthcare policies, especially policies on women and children's health.