Making outstanding achievements in international medical and health assistance. Since 1963, China has sent teams totaling 25,000 medical workers to 69 developing countries. They have diagnosed and treated a total of 280 million cases. In September 2015, China announced at relevant United Nations summits that it would take major health assistance actions for developing countries in the five years to come, including the construction of 100 hospitals and clinics, and the implementation of 100 "maternal and child health projects." By June 2017, more than 1,300 medical team members and public health experts from China were working in 51 countries, and over 20,000 health management and technical personnel had been trained in China for the recipient countries. It had built more than 150 facilities, including general hospitals, specialized centers and drug warehouses. China had provided batches of medical supplies to those countries including ambulances, diagnosis and treatment equipment, and vaccine cold chains. In the same period it donated antimalarial drugs to Africa, saving 40 million lives. Since 2008, China has built 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers in Africa, and provided RMB190 million worth of artemisinin-based antimalarial drugs.
Effectively conducting global emergency response. China has met the requirements for implementing the International Health Regulations. It has been playing an active and leading role in international emergency rescue, and has participated in the fight against epidemics, including yellow fever and Zika virus disease in Angola and Guyana. After the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa in 2014, China provided assistance including cash and supplies to epidemic-stricken countries and international organizations on four consecutive occasions, with a total value of US$120 million. More than 1,200 Chinese medical personnel and public-health experts had been sent to epidemic-stricken areas and neighboring countries to complete nearly 9,000 sample tests, observe and treat over 900 cases and train 13,000 local people in medical care and community-based prevention and control. After an 8.1-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, the Chinese government sent four medical and epidemic prevention teams with a total of 193 members to the disaster area to help relief efforts. A total of 2,600 cases were treated and more than 1,000 core members of health and epidemic prevention work were trained.
International recognition of TCM continuing to grow. Now, 183 countries and regions around the world have access to TCM. TCM has become an important part of China's cooperation with regions and health organizations in ASEAN, Europe and Africa. TCM acupuncture and moxibustion have been recognized as important parts of the intangible heritage of mankind by UNESCO, and the Chinese medical classics Huangdi Neijing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor) and Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) have been included in the UNESCO Memory of the World. According to statistics from the WHO, 103 member states have authorized the use of acupuncture and moxibustion, of which 29 have established laws and regulations promoting traditional medicines, and 18 include acupuncture and moxibustion in their medical insurance systems.
Conclusion
The CPC and the Chinese government earnestly respect and protect people's right to health, and consider safeguarding people's health as a basic task of governance. Significant actions have been taken, aiming to benefit people both in the present and the future. China has achieved great success in health affairs, making an important contribution to the sustainable development of mankind.
"Between heaven and earth, man experiences both dangers and stability during the course of his lifetime." We are keenly aware that safeguarding people's health is a systematic project. It takes a long period of sustained efforts. At present, with the situation of the country's industrialization, urbanization and aging population, as well as the changing disease spectrum, ecological environment and lifestyle, the Chinese people are still facing a complex situation in which multiple disease threats coexist and a variety of health factors are intertwined; meanwhile, with the improvement of living standards and enhancement of the concept of health of the people, public demand for health products and health services continues to grow, showing multi-level, diversified and individualized characteristics. Consequently, China is faced with health problems common to both developed and developing countries.
In order to better safeguard people's right to health, we are speeding up the building of a heathy China. A series of plans and outlines have been made and implemented, including the "Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline, the National Fitness Program (2016-2020), the 13th Five-Year Plan for Medical and Health Service Development, and the Plan for Deepening Reform of the Medical and Healthcare System During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period (2016-2020). The Chinese government has put forward a "three-step" goal: a sound basic medical and healthcare system with Chinese characteristics will be established covering both urban and rural residents, with the main health indicators ranking in the forefront of the high- and middle-income countries by 2020; the health-promotion system will be improved, with the main health indicators in the ranks of the high-income countries by 2030; and a healthy China conforming to the requirements of a modern socialist country will be built by 2050. Governments at all levels will continue their work toward comprehensively safeguarding people's health for the full life cycle, and promoting the overall development of medical and health services, with a high sense of responsibility and urgency.
Health is an eternal pursuit of mankind, and health promotion is the common responsibility of the world community. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set healthy lives as a major sustainable development goal, and the development of the global health system is at a crucial stage. China will, as always, energetically participate in health-related international activities, take an active part in global health governance, and implement sustainable development goals in the public health sector. In its efforts to build the Belt and Road, China will enhance medical and health cooperation with countries along the route, and emphasize learning from and drawing on the experiences of other countries. In the great process of "jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind," China is keen to join hands with people around the world in making unremitting efforts to build a better and healthier world.
Major Indicators for the Healthy China Program
Sphere: health status Indicator: life expectancy
2015: 76.34 2020: 77.3 2030: 79.0
Sphere: health status Indicator: infant mortality rate (per thousand)
2015: 8.1 2020: 7.5 2030: 5.0
Sphere: health status Indicator: under five mortality rate (per thousand)
2015: 10.7 2020: 9.5 2030: 6.0
Sphere: health status Indicator: maternal death rate (1/100,000)
2015: 20.1 2020: 18.0 2030: 12.0
Sphere: health status Indicator: the proportion of residents who reach or exceed the National Physical Fitness Evaluation Standards (%)
2015: 89.6 (2014) 2020: 90.6 2030: 92.2
Sphere: healthy lifestyle Indicator: proficient health literacy rate (%)
2015: 10 2020: 20 2030: 30
Sphere: healthy lifestyle Indicator: number of people who frequently attend fitness exercises (million)
2015: 360 (2014) 2020: 435 2030: 530
Sphere: health services and guarantees Indicator: premature death rate from serious chronic disease (%)
2015: 19.1 (2013) 2020: lower by 10 percent comparing with 2015 2030: lower by 30 percent comparing with 2015
Sphere: health services and guarantees Indicator: number of practicing (assistant) physicians per 1,000 permanent residents
2015: 2.2 2020: 2.5 2030: 3.0
Sphere: health services and guarantees Indicator: proportion of personal expenditure in China's total expenditure on health (%)
2015: 29.3 2020: around 28 2030: around 25
Sphere: healthy environment Indicator: proportion of days per year meeting good or excellent air quality index standard in cities at prefectural level and above (%)
2015: 76.7 2020: >80 2030: keep improving
Sphere: healthy environment Indicator: proportion of water bodies of Grade III and better quality in all surface water bodies (%)
2015: 66 2020: >70 2030: keep improving
Sphere: health industry Indicator: monetary value of health service industry (RMB trillion)
2015: - 2020: >8 2030: 16 Enditem
