China sets out health targets for 2030

China aims to effectively curb the rising incidence rates of major chronic diseases and raise the average life expectancy to 80 years by 2030, up from 79.25 years in 2025, according to a national health plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–30).

The targets are set out in the plan that outlines the country's key steps for improving health and medical services and enhancing the overall well-being of its people over the next five years. The plan was recently released by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The National Health Commission said during a recent news conference that between 2020 and 2025, the country's average life expectancy rose at an average annual rate of 0.26 years, ranking it as a front-runner among middle- and high-income nations.

The document emphasizes providing comprehensive, life-cycle health services for all citizens, strengthening defenses against major public health threats, building an integrated and high-quality medical service network, and accelerating the adoption of smart and emerging technologies.

It calls for advancing the creation of smoke-free environments and strengthening smoking cessation services, with the goal of reducing the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above to 20 percent by 2030.

To improve fertility and childcare services, the plan calls for standardizing infertility diagnosis and treatment services and the application of assisted reproductive technologies, which are expected to receive greater medical insurance coverage. It also promotes labor analgesia services and calls for expanding insurance coverage for such care.

By 2030, the plan also aims to raise the enrollment rate in nursery care facilities for those under three by six percentage points from 2025 so as to reduce burdens of families and cope with the nation's decreasing birthrate.

The plan also highlights the need to enhance screening and early diagnosis of breast and cervical cancer, fully implement the free human papillomavirus vaccination policy for eligible girls, and strengthen home-based medical services for the elderly, as well as comprehensive care systems for seniors living with disabilities and dementia.

Efforts will also be made to strengthen the prevention and response to cross-species transmission of emerging pathogens, improve infectious disease surveillance, early warning, and epidemiological investigation capabilities, and enhance cross-departmental coordination and information sharing.

To improve access to healthcare, China aims to build a 15-minute primary healthcare service circle, support secondary hospitals in expanding services in underserved areas, including rehabilitation, nursing care, mental and psychological health, pediatrics, geriatric medicine, and hospice care, and continue to enhance the capabilities of rural clinics and community healthcare centers.

Specifically in the area of rehabilitation and nursing, the plan calls for stepping up the training of specialized nurses and therapists, with targets of 0.7 rehabilitation physicians and 1.6 rehabilitation therapists per 10,000 people by 2030.

Given the rapid development of biomedicine technologies, the plan urges strengthening research in areas such as pathogenesis, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices and brain-computer interfaces, while promoting the translation of research outcomes into practical applications.

Continued efforts will be dedicated to accelerating the approval of novel drugs and drugs in acute need, as well as expediting research on cell and gene therapy drugs, novel antibodies, new-generation vaccines, nucleic acid drugs and radiopharmaceuticals.

Other research areas that will receive support include vaccines and drugs for public health emergencies, as well as high-end medical devices. Artificial intelligence will be employed in an effort to upgrade the entire pharmaceutical industry chain.

As part of efforts to build a global community of health for all, the plan calls for deepening foreign medical aid missions, establishing a number of China-Africa medical centers, and setting up international cooperation centers based in major domestic hospitals to roll out international projects for clinical trials, the application of cutting-edge technologies, and the delivery of international medical services.