臺灣地區兒童保健之回顧與展望

Child Health in Taiwan

李鍾祥(Chung-Hsiang Lee)

《Acta Paediatrica Sinica》 26卷6期 (1985/12) Pp. 548-570

並列摘要

Retrospective study of child health in the Taiwan area in the past 25 years shows changes in mortality rate, morbidity rate, and their causes, as well as changes in the population composition of children.
This paper discusses several problems inherent to child health on Taiwan:
1) Trends in the composition of the child population show: a natural increase rate of 15.68% in 1983, with predicted continuing decrease. The ratio of population below 14 years decreased from 44.4% (1965) to 31.01% (1983).
2) Trends in child mortality, morbidity rates: Mortality rates for children decreased dramatically in the past 20 years, especially in newborns and infants, because of effective infectious disease control. Morbidity in children has changed greatly too. Accidents and neoplasm have become the chief causes of childhood death.
3) Diseases of children: a) the survival rate for premature infants is improving. b) congenital anomalies, the third cause of newborn deaths on Taiwan, still are very poorly reported and data is sparse. c) much progress has been made in child growth, development and in nutrition. d) tetanus, polio, diptheria, Japanese encephalitis and similar diseases are effectively controlled or have been eradicated through effective vaccination. e) parasites are now almost eradicated. f) accidents, the first cause of death for children other than infants, have also changed in character with drowning the most prevalent and traffic accidents, the second most. g) the handicapped: the 1976 census revealed that 1.47% of all school children (aged 6-12) were handicapped either by mental retardation (34.81%) or physical crippling. Of the severely handicapped, 98.74% remain at home, without appropriate medical care. h) school health: the two principal problems are myopia and dental caries.
4) Child health and society: changes in the society have created new challenges for child health. a) the breast feeding rate has decreased and working mothers no longer bring up their own children. b) educational pressure. Parents have been taught the reasons against having many children, but this raises their expectations for the ones they have. Diseases such as peptic ulcer, formerly rarely seen in children, are becoming a more common phenomenon, as a result of pressure from schools and parents. c) Adolescents are challenged by such major. Problems as drug abuse, delinquency, irresponsible sexual behavior and ignorance of safety skills.
5) Legislation and social welfare, designed to meet the needs of children, are still under development in the Taiwan area.
Solutions and recommendations for these problems are discussed in more detail in this paper.

並列關鍵字

child health ； childhood mortality ； morbidity