Development of Rehabilitation in China

The rapid development of medical rehabilitation services in China over the last 30 years has progressed from minimal to the present various models of rehabilitation services in general hospitals, specialized rehabilitation hospitals, and community-based and home-based rehabilitation. Contributing factors such as rapid economic growth, rehabilitation needs after natural disasters, changes in insurance policies, an aging population, and new government policies have accelerated the growth in rehabilitation services. Persons with disability in China include 85 million permanently disabled persons, more than 200 million with disabilities from chronic diseases, and more than 240 million elderly individuals.