Health News:

Maternal and child health is the cornerstone of the health of all people and is conducive to improving the population's health overall. What arrangements will China make to enhance its maternal and child healthcare service system and advance the high-quality development of maternal and child health? Thank you.

Yu Yanhong:

Thank you for your attention to the work on the health of women and children. Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, we have focused on implementing the Law on Maternal and Infant Health Care, the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, and the China Program for the Development of Women and Children. We have consolidated and improved the service system, continued to optimize health services, and carried out a series of action plans for maternal and child safety, child health, and the development of TCM for maternal and child healthcare. Women and children are increasingly feeling the benefits, and their health continues to improve.

In 2022, China recorded a maternal mortality rate of 15.7 per 100,000, and the mortality rates for infants and children under 5 were 4.9 per thousand and 6.8 per thousand, respectively, all dropping to record lows and placing China at the forefront among middle- and high-income countries.

We will continue to ensure safety, solve difficulties, and promote development, and take effective measures to protect the health rights of women and children. We will give priority to the major health problems of women and children on the demand side, continue to optimize maternal and child health services, and consolidate and improve the system for safeguarding maternal and child safety, securing the bottom line of maternal and child safety. We will carry out a number of practical and effective special campaigns focusing on challenging issues such as myopia in children, obesity, birth defects, cervical cancer, and breast cancer, and improve the model of health services throughout the life cycle to advance the comprehensive development of maternal and child health.

We will also focus on enhancing the development of the maternal and child healthcare service system. We aim to advance the upgrading of the maternal and child healthcare service system, coordinate resources from multiple parties, address inadequacies, shore up weak points, and move faster to achieve the goal of ensuring at least one standard government-funded maternal and child healthcare institution in each administrative region at provincial, prefectural, and county level. We will improve the system for treating pregnant, delivery and postpartum women and newborns with severe or critical conditions, optimize the birth defects prevention and control network, advance the application of telemedicine platforms for maternal and child healthcare, and make quality medical resources more accessible at the community level to better safeguard maternal and child health. Thank you. 

Red Star News:

In 2022, China recorded 9.56 million newborns, of which 38.9% were second children and 15% were third children or children after third. In recent years, there has been considerable attention paid to supporting measures for childbirth. What specific arrangements has the NHC made? Thank you.

Wang Bin:

Thank you for your questions. The CPC Central Committee has attached great significance to the population work. The 20th Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs held its first meeting in May and proposed to advance Chinese modernization with the high-quality development of the population and improve the relevant policy system to provide better services for births. As the leading departments of this work, the NHC and NDRC have strengthened coordination among departments and enhanced research on the relevant policy system, with a focus on tackling difficulties and obstacles in providing supporting measures for births. We have also advanced the "Maternal and Children's Health" project, strengthened the five systems for maternal and child safety, safeguarded the health rights and interests of women and children, and improved services for sound childrearing. We have coordinated with relevant departments to roll out a series of supporting policies in such areas as education, taxation, housing, employment, and medical care. Many places across China have actively tried new methods. Some provinces, cities, and counties have introduced policies to offer subsidies for child care and housing, operation subsidies for childcare institutions, and social security subsidies for employers. This work has progressed smoothly.

We will work closely with relevant departments to link the high-quality development of the population with the high-quality life of the people. We will continue to support the development of childcare service institutions and model cities of sound infant care services. We will also promote the evaluation of employers that provide sound childcare services, encourage secondary and higher vocational schools and higher vocational colleges to offer infant care-related majors, and involve medical institutions in supporting childcare services. Moreover, we will improve the relevant policies, standards and regulations, and increase the service supply for childcare services to further enhance population-related policies. Thank you.