President Xi Jinping has called for continuous efforts to improve people's health and secure decisive progress in the development of the Healthy China Initiative over the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a national meeting on health, which was held in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday.
He underlined the need to firmly follow a path with Chinese characteristics in developing the country's healthcare programs, and to leverage strengths and address weak links in order to promote the high-quality development of the health sector.
People's health is a crucial hallmark of a nation's prosperity and strength, Xi said, emphasizing the CPC Central Committee's strategic decision to promote the Healthy China Initiative.
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in late 2012, the Party Central Committee, with Xi at the core, has given strategic priority to ensuring people's health. It made the major decision to advance the Healthy China Initiative nationwide.
The initiative, which aims to improve public health and promote healthier lifestyles, covers areas such as public health services, environmental management, the development of the healthcare industry, and food and drug safety. It is part of the country's broader efforts to address the challenges posed by an aging population, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and the rising costs of healthcare.
From targeted advances in key areas to nationwide coverage of inclusive health services that meet basic needs, China, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, has blazed a path of health development with its own characteristics. It has established the world's largest medical service system, traditional medicine service system, disease prevention and control system, and medical security system.
China aims to establish a health system by 2035 that is compatible with a society that has basically achieved modernization.
Xi emphasized at the meeting that the Healthy China that the country strives to build should provide balanced, inclusive, high-quality and efficient medical and healthcare services.
It should possess strong capabilities in health management, disease prevention and control, medical services, medical insurance support, innovation and talent development, and should effectively meet the growing demands of people regarding health, with major health indicators steadily improving, he said.
Highlighting its holistic and fundamental role, Xi called for prioritizing the development of healthcare. Health considerations should be integrated into policies and reflected in all areas of work, including planning, policy design, project evaluation and construction, he added.
Xi stressed that improving medical services is a key task in building a Healthy China, and he called for concrete measures, including optimizing the layout of medical institutions and tiered diagnosis and treatment, to ensure that people can access medical care close to home and receive effective treatment.
Efforts should be made to optimize medical services to the satisfaction of the people, he added.
Thanks to continuous efforts throughout society over the past decades, the vision of ensuring that serious illnesses can be treated within one's home provincial-level region, common illnesses within one's city or county, and everyday ailments at the grassroots level is increasingly becoming a reality.
China has supported the development of 125 national regional medical centers so far, with 75 percent of their hospitals located in central and western regions and other areas where high-quality medical resources are relatively scarce, Xinhua News Agency reported.
More than 90 percent of residents can access nearby medical and healthcare services within 15 minutes. Primary-level medical institutions account for more than 50 percent of all medical visits nationwide.
Coordinated development and governance of healthcare services, medical insurance and pharmaceuticals have helped reduce out-of-pocket payments to 27.1 percent of total health expenditure.
A range of health indicators point to improvements in the country's overall health status.
In 2025, China's average life expectancy was 79.25 years, while its major health indicators remained at a leading position among upper-middle-income countries and countries with a population exceeding 100 million. The premature mortality rate from major chronic diseases fell to 13.8 percent, and major infectious diseases and endemic diseases were effectively brought under control.
During the meeting, Xi called for intensifying basic research and original innovation in the medical and healthcare sector and promoting the transformation of technological research achievements into applications to strengthen the healthcare industry.
China is producing a growing range of domestically developed drugs, medical equipment, vaccines, medical consumables and approaches to diagnosis and treatment. In the first half of 2026 alone, the nation approved 38 innovative drugs for market entry, according to a Xinhua report.
Xi also urged reform in the medical and healthcare sector, saying that the coordinated development and governance of medical services, medical insurance and pharmaceuticals should be the primary focus in reforming the healthcare system.
Noting that ensuring health for all is a common vision for humanity, he called for actively promoting the building of a global community of health for all, jointly addressing major challenges in public health, and continuously improving the health and well-being of people worldwide.
