Issue

Issue

Action

Action

Impact

Impact

 

Action

© UNICEF/China/Liu Yu

UNICEF, in cooperation with the Chinese government, promotes child survival, growth, and development in poor areas of China. We do this by supporting pilot projects that demonstrate cost-effective, sustainable strategies for developing women- and child-friendly policies. The aim of these actions is to support the Chinese government in reversing the declining trend of access and quality of basic and preventive health services through appropriate adjustments in healthcare policy. UNICEF's programmes are intended to improve quality, efficiency, and access of an essential package of care—a package covering early obstetric care, basic nutrition, immunization, and other services—complemented by an improvement in key household child caring practices.

We do this through the following actions:

Delivery of integrated primary healthcare and maternal and child health services
- Strengthening management of health services through better supervision and increased efficiency
- Improving quality of care through performance-based incentives
- Increasing access and utilization by improving user friendliness

Strengthening primary healthcare and maternal and child health services in Tibet and Xinjiang
- Reviewing protocols for an essential package of care
- Improving efficiency and accountability of China's health insurance system

Promoting health for 900 million farmers
- Supporting a massive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign
- Developing a communication strategy  for key household practices

Strengthening EPI, the Expanded Programme for Immunization
- Supporting policymaking by improving financial sustainability and reviewing coverage strategies
- Improving routine immunization by training key staff in EPI management, and integrating EPI into primary healthcare in selected counties
- Supporting national disease control goals such as polio eradication campaigns, tetanus elimination, measles mortality control, and Hepatitis-B immunization.
- Promoting safe injection

Promoting health education by teaching mothers the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for six months after delivery; complementing breastfeeding with safe food for the following 18 months; and monitoring the ethical marketing of breast milk substitutes

Working with the Chinese Ministries of Health and Education to combine early stimulation, child protection, nutrition, and caring for children into an integrated package of services both at hospitals and in households

Initiating a research programme to identify trends in childhood injury, now one of the leading causes of death or permanent disability for children ages one to 14. In urban settings, such injuries are sustained in near-drownings, falls, traffic accidents, animal bites, poisoning, and burns. Research is being conducted to document childhood injuries in rural environments.