The morbidity in children population of various age groups against the background of COVID-19 pandemic and new challenges in organization of medical care

In children population, infectious diseases propagate rather rapidly and they have their own peculiarities in course. The COVID-19 coronavirus infection was no exception in it and created new challenges in organization of medical care and prevention of its spread. The purpose of the study was to investigate dynamics of general and primary morbidity in children aged 0-14 and 15-17 years and characteristics of organization of medical care in conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical and statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, were applied. The software MS Excel 2007 and Statistica 10 were applied to process data. It was established that in 2017-2022 total children morbidity aged 0-14 years decreased up to 18.0%, primary morbidity up to 19.3%, in children aged 15-17 years up to 3.8% and 4.2% respectively. Despite implemented anti-epidemic measures morbidity of COVID-19 in children increased annually. The medical care of children was provided according to the Procedure of provision of medical care by profile "Pediatrics" but due to COVID-19 propagation, adjustments were applied. This affected state medical organizations re-profiled for medical care of patients with confirmed COVID-19 corona-virus infection. Despite increasing of general and primary children morbidity against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic during study period indicators decreased. At that, respiratory diseases increased that determined decision-making in management of medical care organization of patients.