Nursing is the branch of medicine dealing with the care of infants, children and adolescents and the prevention and treatment of their diseases. Although most thinking and analysis of health care is taken from the adult health care system, issues surrounding pediatrics are unique and challenging and should be treated differently than adults.
One in ?ve people in the world today are adolescents between 10 and 19 years of age, and 85% of adolescents live in developing countries. Throughout the world, adolescence is considered to be a time of relative health and, as a result, a wide range of adolescent health issues is being neglected. In response to this need, the World Health Organization (WHO) departments of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH) and Human Resources for Health (HRH) embarked on an initiative to focus on adolescent health and development by strengthening the educational preparation of nurses and midwives.
Nurses and midwives are in a unique position by virtue of their education, numbers, and diversity of practice arenas to contribute to promoting the highest attainable standard of health among adolescents. Preparing providers to meet adolescents health needs is a challenge requiring planned educational experiences within the nursing and midwifery curriculum.
Pediatric nurses are usually Registered Nurses (RN) or Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN), who decide to pursue specialty training in pediatrics. Doing so allows them to take on roles in which they can work specifically with babies, toddlers, and teens. Pediatric RNs may work in a hospital’s pediatric department.
There are also Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (PNP) who take on additional responsibilities such as prescribing medications, performing developmental screenings, and administering immunizations. They hold advanced degrees in nursing and pass additional exams in order to practice.
Pediatric nurses work under the direction of pediatricians and unlike pediatricians they are not qualified to diagnose patients. They follow patient care plans, monitor patients and assist pediatricians with patient examinations and tests. Pediatricians are responsible for ensuring that the children they care for have age-appropriate vaccinations and are healthy. When necessary, they may diagnose a child's illness, or they may refer children to specialists for medical tests if they have concerns about their health.
A major challenge the pediatric healthcare community faces is in relation to Medicaid funding. While the cost of health care for most children is relatively low, those who require hospitalization or specialty care experience a tremendous increase in total cost. Additionally, with a focus on preventative medicine, more resources need to be allocated to pediatrics. Medicaid funding for children estimates about 20 percent of total funds, yet children make up about 60 percent of enrollees. Typically, nursing homes and geriatrics utilize the most Medicaid dollars but for a much smaller population. While healthcare reform is an ongoing issue, the unique needs of children need to be included.
Pediatric healthcare is dealing with the treatment of child related diseases, their development and care. Children often suffer from respiratory, gastrointestinal and other chronic disease because of lower immunity. The global market for pediatric healthcare is accounted to approximately $83 billion in 2017 and expected to grow at 7.8% CAGR in future. Increase in demand for chronic disease treatment, Diarrhea and injury related disease is more common in children; however, these diseases vary from short term to long-term treatments that consume a lot time and exert financial pressures on the parents. Changes in child care trend increases the prevalence rate of pediatric diseases. This report provides detail information about current scenario of pediatric treatment and expected growth in it.
The global pediatric market is valued to be USD 24 Billion in 2015 and is poised to grow at a steady CAGR of 10.6 %. The steady growth can be attributed to the increasing complications and health issues in infants and children.
Rise in uptake of new vaccines has led to an increase in global vaccination coverage. According to WHO, immunization prevents around 3 million deaths worldwide every year, and an additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided if vaccination coverage improves. According to a report released in 2015 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccination was estimated to prevent around 21 million hospitalizations, 322 million illnesses, and 732,000 deaths in children born between 1994 and 2013, which could save around USD 1.4 trillion in societal costs. By 2016, DTP vaccine coverage had reached approximately 90% in over 130 countries worldwide.
High prevalence of chronic diseases is one of the major factors boosting the market for pediatric vaccines. According to WHO, around 5 billion severe illnesses and 0.5 billion annual deaths are reported globally. Infants are at a higher risk of contracting severe diseases, and therefore, vaccination plays an important role in their prevention. According to WHO, in 2015, around 134,200 people died due to measles, which accounted for nearly 15 deaths every hour. It also estimated that around 19.5 million children worldwide did not receive DTP vaccines in 2016.
Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period due to increase in focus of major players on the Indian market for pediatric vaccines, rise in immunization initiatives by government and non-government organizations, and presence of a large target population. Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a significant CAGR of 12.6% over the forecast period.
If we look into Middle East and Africa region which comprise about 2% of global healthcare expenditure which expected to grow continuously. Technological advancement and government initiatives to improve healthcare sector are driving the growth for pediatric healthcare in Middle East and Africa. Market for pediatric healthcare in Middle East and Africa was about US$ 48 billion in 2016 and expected to reach US$ 63.6 billion by 2023 at CAGR of 4.1%.
Global pediatric healthcare market is expected to grow at CAGR of 7.2% from $65.8 billion in 2010 to $81 billion by 2013. At the same time chronic illness segment is expected to show CAGR of 8.6% and reach $59 billion market in 2013 from $46 billion in 2010. The growing demand of treatment options for chronic illness makes the pediatric healthcare market lucrative to invest, and this report helps to gain heads on the in depth analysis of various developments, market trends, drivers, restrains, opportunities , sales forecast and competitive landscape in this market.
According to the recent reports, the Global Pediatric Nutrition Market is expected to display stupendous growth in forthcoming period 2018-2023.