An Overview of Maternal and Child Health Policies in Various Countries

擁有健康的母親與兒童是一個富強社會國家的根基，因此本文希望藉由回顧、分析其他國家（美國、加拿大、英國、挪威、丹麥、日本、新加坡、南韓等）之婦幼衛生相關政策，以提供台灣未來在婦幼衛生工作之參考。本文所收集的次級資料，主要來自世界衛生組織及各國官方的網站、出版圖書以及學術期刊所展列之網站的婦幼衛生相關資料。婦幼衛生若從生命週期發展來看，其涵蓋時期包含孕前、孕時、產後、新生兒、嬰幼兒至青春期。各國針對婦幼範疇所制定的政策範圍相當廣泛，且是跨部會、跨機構的整合，甚至由民間團體共同參與實施。經由各國婦幼衛生政策之回顧，顯示婦幼衛生實行較成功之國家，大多重視家庭觀念之推廣，且其資源的整合性佳，動員國家不同之部會合作，以推廣落實婦幼衛生工作，其優點可供台灣推行婦幼衛生工作的借鏡。Healthy mothers and children are essential to maintaining and expanding national prosperity. This article reviews maternal and child health policies in several countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Singapore, and Republic of Korea. Comparing and considering the policy experiences of different countries can provide references for designing and revising women's and children's health care policies in Taiwan. Secondary data used in this study were retrieved from a variety of resources including websites of the World Health Organization and various national governments, official publications, and articles related to women's and children’s health. The life cycles of women and children embraces differing needs at different stages (e.g., preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, newborn, infant, and young adulthood). To meet these needs, a broad spectrum of policies offers different levels of coverage. Strengthened cooperation among agencies and with nongovernmental organizations is needed to achieve goals. This review showed that countries with greater achievements in women's and children's health focus on families and manage effective cooperation between departments to execute polices. The successes of such policies may be referenced by Taiwanese policymakers and government officials