BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- On a small island in the Yangtze River in eastern China, residents don't need to leave the island to see a medical specialist. They can now access modern medical equipment at the township clinic and consult specialists from higher-level hospitals, who pay regular visits to the facility.
In December 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the clinic in Shiye Township, Jiangsu Province, outlining a path for advancing rural healthcare. Shiye is home to five villages and more than 10,000 permanent residents.
"We must shift the focus of healthcare to the community level, channel more medical resources to local communities, and promote equal access to basic public services in urban and rural areas," said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.
This is to provide people with safe, effective, accessible and affordable public health services and basic medical care, and effectively address the difficulties and high costs people face in accessing medical care at the local level, he added.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress 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.
From targeted advances in key areas to nationwide coverage of inclusive health services that meet basic needs, China, a country of more than 1.4 billion people, has blazed a path of inclusive and balanced health development.
HEALTHCARE FOR ALL
Over the years, Xi has visited grassroots medical institutions and households in rural areas across the country, offering targeted guidance tailored to local conditions.
He has focused on preventing people from falling into or returning to poverty because of illness, using remote consultations to help balance medical resources, and addressing healthcare-related issues in rural areas.
Xi has paid close attention to the issues people face in accessing healthcare at the grassroots level and set out clear directions, from establishing five basic systems -- tiered diagnosis and treatment, modern hospital management, universal medical insurance, drug supply security, and comprehensive oversight -- to developing the healthcare workforce and digital infrastructure for smart healthcare.
"We must unswervingly uphold the public welfare nature of the medical and healthcare sector, and not take the path of wholesale marketization and commercialization," Xi said.
He has also called for further deepening the reform of medical and healthcare systems and exploring Chinese solutions to the worldwide challenge of healthcare reform.
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.
The vision of ensuring that serious illnesses can be treated within one's province, 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.
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.
COMPREHENSIVE LIFECYCLE HEALTH
Xi has also expressed deep concern over the growing prevalence of myopia among students, particularly at younger ages.
The trend, he has said, seriously affects children's health and poses a major issue for the future of the country, and it must be given high priority and not allowed to continue unchecked.
With strengthened efforts to prevent and control myopia among children and adolescents, China's overall student myopia rate declined for five consecutive years from 2021 to 2025, reaching 49.9 percent in 2025, down 3.7 percentage points from 2018.
From enabling older people to enjoy their later years to preventing childhood obesity and myopia, Xi has stressed the importance of safeguarding health across all population groups and throughout the entire lifecycle.
A range of health indicators point to improvements in the country's overall health status.
In 2025, China's average life expectancy rose to 79.25 years, while its major health indicators remained at the 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 brought under effective control.
China aims to establish a health system by 2035 that is compatible with a society that has basically achieved modernization.
Xi has emphasized the translation of scientific and technological innovations into practical applications, called for advancing the digital and intelligent development of healthcare nationwide, and encouraged regions with suitable conditions to explore the application of artificial intelligence.
This year, the government work report included biomedicine as an emerging pillar industry for the first time.
In the first half of 2026 alone, China approved 38 innovative drugs for market entry.
China is developing a growing range of homegrown drugs, medical equipment, vaccines, medical consumables and approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
Traditional Chinese medicine is a distinctive component of China's healthcare system. Xi has issued important instructions on multiple occasions, calling for the sector's industrial development and modernization, as well as wider international reach.
China has also continued to deepen health cooperation with countries around the world by promoting the use of artemisinin to benefit patients worldwide, regularly deploying medical teams abroad, establishing overseas traditional Chinese medicine centers, and joining efforts to combat Ebola. Through these efforts, it has worked with other countries to address cross-border public health risks.
Yet as China's economy and society evolve and its demographic landscape changes, people's healthcare needs are becoming increasingly multi-layered and diverse.
"At present and for a period to come, China's health and healthcare work needs to adapt to changing circumstances and refine certain specific policies and measures. However, the path of health and healthcare development with Chinese characteristics must not waver," Xi said. ■
