18-Feb-16 If current trends continue, half the world’s population (4.8 bn people) will be short-sighted in just over three decades, with one-fifth of those expected to have a significantly increased risk of blindness. 96% of teenagers in Korea are short-sighted and in Singapore, China and Japan the rate is around 80-90%. [image: Nomad_Soul / Shutterstock.com]

15-Feb-16 China plans to consolidate its huge and fragmented drug market and will support a greater role for traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). China is a major lure for drug firms targeting growth driven by rising incomes and a fast-ageing population. Beijing is keen, however, for local firms to take a larger slice of the market. [image: Reuters / Aly Song]

04-Feb-16 An acute shortage of doctors to treat children is taking a toll on public health services in China, and the recent policy shift to allow families to have two children will only make matters worse, say experts. The country has a shortfall of at least 200,000 paediatricians, said the National Health & Family Planning Commission. [image: Reuters]

04-Feb-16 SThe US and Europe are the traditional leaders in medtech, but others are hot on their heels. China's market is expected to grow at 7.4% until 2019. Medtech companies in Mexico save 19% on manufacturing costs compared with the US. Turkey's industry is expected to grow at 8.5% until 2018, and Malaysia supplies 80% of the world market for catheters. [image: MD+DI]

03-Feb-16 Italy's medical device companies are looking at the development potential in China, one of the markets where Italy's exports of medical devices have increased the most - by 24% in 2014 - with an export value of EUR310 mn (USD430 mn). Italian companies already present in China include DiaSorin, a biotech group specialized in in-vitro diagnostics. [image: Ambasciata d'Italia Pechino]