Two North Carolina-based university health systems have announced an agreement to construct the state’s first standalone children’s hospital.

UNC Health and Duke Health are partnering to build a new children's health system that will include North Carolina's first freestanding pediatric hospital, the pair announced Tuesday. | The academic health systems' vision,

The facility, called “N.C. Children’s,” was characterized as a “decade-long goal” for both institutions and is expected to lessen the strain on other regional facilities amid increased demand for care.