Women's and children's health care highlighted at forum

The life expectancy of Shanghai's registered population, the infant mortality and mortality for pregnant women in 2023 were all in line with developed countries, experts told a national seminar on female and children's health in the city on Friday.

Life expectancy of the city's registered population was 83.66 years old, while the infant mortality rate was 2.14 per 1,000 and mortality for pregnant women was 2.89 per 100,000, the forum heard.

Nationwide, the mortality rate of pregnant women and infants keeps dropping. The death rate of pregnant women was 15.1 per 100,000, infant mortality was 4.5 per 1,000 and mortality of children aged 5 and younger was 6.2 per 1000 last year.

Hemorrhage and premature birth are the leading cause of death for pregnant women and newborn children in China. The distribution and quality of medical resources in the cities and rural areas also contributes to the difference in mortality rates in different regions, indicating the need for further improvement of health service and research on care during the perinatal period, experts said.

At the seminar, it was announced the National Center for Translational Medicine (Shanghai)'s maternity and child health branch would set up in the Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, which will focus on research on children's early development, congenital deformity prevention and control, and the prevention and treatment of developmental disorders.

The branch will explore new mechanisms for talent cultivation, high-end equipment sharing and co-use, combination of research, education and industrialization, and international communication to achieve medical innovation on female and children's health, hospital officials said.