China's shift from population control to population quality: Implications for neurology.

Abstract

China's population restriction, known across the globe as the 1-child policy, has been in place since 1981, with variations to allow some couples a second child.1,2 In response to social challenges arising from this policy, the Chinese government announced in 2015 that it would transition to a new 2-child policy, encouraging couples since January 1, 2016, to have 2 children.3 This transition accompanies a focus on population quality (i.e., improvements in health, education, and social welfare) in newborns to the large Chinese elderly population, with an initiative to reform the Chinese health care system and increase disease screening and prevention. These changes provide an opportunity to improve the treatment of neurologic disease in China, specifically identification of disease through newborn screening (NBS) and disease treatment/prevention through education, patient registries, and improvement in primary care access.