China to expand pediatric, mental health services

BEIJING -- China will address gaps in pediatric and mental health services from 2025 to 2027, said health authorities.

The supply of pediatric services will be improved to achieve "broad coverage" during this period, the National Health Commission (NHC) revealed on Tuesday in a statement on its website.

Notably, the country will ensure that more than 90 percent of these services will be accessible at primary-level healthcare facilities, which include community health stations, township-level health centers, village clinics and outpatient departments.

In a breakdown of the resolution in a separate statement released the same day, the NHC said such services should be made available at all general hospitals at secondary and tertiary levels in 2025.

Parents have long complained about overcrowding at major hospitals, particularly in winter when respiratory diseases affect children.

Regarding mental health, the NHC said the country will establish more state and regional centers for mental disorders and actively develop key clinical specialties in this field.

Efforts will be made to ensure that outpatient services for mental and sleep disorders are available at a minimum of at least one hospital in each prefecture and city nationwide by 2025.

Authorities will also promote the use of the unified mental health hotline, 12356, throughout of the year, according to the NHC. By May 1, 2025, all similar hotlines will be connected to this unified hotline.

Mental health, in particular of children and adolescents, has increasingly come under the spotlight in China in recent years.

The prevalence of depression among adolescents stands at around 2 percent in the country, Xie Bin, Party chief of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, said on Dec. 25 at a press conference, citing an authoritative epidemiological survey.

By 2025, more than 95 percent of schools in the country are expected to have a full-time or part-time instructor for mental health education, according to a three-year national action plan launched in 2023.

The NHC has designated 2025-2027 as the "Years of Pediatric and Mental Health Services." To cultivate more professionals, salaries and treatment could potentially be adjusted to tilt the balance toward pediatric and psychiatric departments in hospitals during this period, it said.