China's State Council issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Health, establishing 19 key indicators and 24 major tasks for improving national health over the next five years. The plan sets a target of achieving an average life expectancy of 80 years by 2030, with key health indicators reaching the level of high-income countries. Medical and health resource allocation is to be further optimized, and the multi-tiered medical security system is to be improved. China's leading role in the global development of traditional medicine will also be consolidated.
The plan deploys health services across the full life cycle. Health education will be integrated into the national education system, and societal efforts to reduce salt, oil, and sugar intake will be promoted. Nationwide fitness activities are to be widely carried out, with more fitness facilities built close to communities. By 2030, the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above is to be reduced to 20%, and the health literacy level is to rise from 33.69% to 40%. For the young and the elderly, the plan calls for improving the birth support policy system, accelerating the development of a public-interest nursery care system, and implementing free HPV vaccination for all eligible girls. For the elderly, actions will be taken to promote oral health, hearing health, psychological care, nutritional improvement, and dementia prevention and treatment, while the care system for disabled and demented elderly persons will be improved. The plan also covers targeted treatment of occupational disease hazards in key industries, health management and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, and mechanisms for monitoring and assisting those at risk of falling back into poverty due to illness.
In terms of medical resource allocation, the plan differentiates the functions of medical institutions at different levels. Institutions tasked with national medical centers, national clinical research centers, or national regional medical centers, as well as provincial-level and above hospitals, will focus on referral, consultation, and inpatient services for acute, critical, and complex diseases. At the grassroots level, the plan explicitly states that the scale of tertiary hospitals will be controlled, the layout of grassroots medical and health institutions will be optimized, a batch of key central township health centers will be selected and developed to play a radiating role, and the urban community health service system will be improved to form a 15-minute basic medical and health service circle. The medical functions of township health centers and community health service centers in large-population towns will be expanded. For bed resources, a classified management system will be established based on resource allocation and performance evaluation, and the proportion of beds for rehabilitation, nursing, and hospice care in grassroots institutions will be increased, with encouragement for home-based hospital bed services.
The plan stresses that the development of health services will be driven by technological innovation and digitalization. More strategic scientists, leading talents, and innovation teams will be cultivated in the health field, along with interdisciplinary strategic talents integrating medical, preventive, and management disciplines. Scientific research will focus on pathogenesis, drugs, vaccines, medical devices, and brain-computer interfaces. The whole chain will be supported for the development and application of innovative drugs and medical devices. Digital and smart applications include building a national smart platform for cross-provincial sharing of health examination results, enabling residents to access their electronic health records in real time, and promoting the application of digital and smart technologies in assisted diagnosis, precision medicine, health management, medical insurance services, and elderly and disability care.