Notification announcement
Date：2022-08-05
A healthy population is a key mark of a prosperous nation and a strong country. In July, 2019, the State Council launched the Healthy China Initiative focusing on main factors that influence people’s health to protect key groups and strengthen prevention and control of serious diseases.
China’s average life expectancy has been improved to 77.93 years, and the main health indicators rank top among middle- and high-income countries. 37.2% of the population participate in physical exercises regularly and the main tasks of the Healthy China initiative in 2022 has been achieved ahead of schedule... These data published by National Health Commission of People’s Republic of China at the press conference on 5th July manifested the outstanding results achieved by the Healthy China initiative.
Healthy China initiative achieved fruitful results
A healthy life is the permanent pursuit of humankind. During these three years since the Healthy China initiative was launched, people’s health has been improved in a stable step, a healthy lifestyle has been promoted gradually, and disease prevention and control work has achieved positive and notable progress.
At the beginning of the Healthy China initiative, the State Council has made special arrangements on and raised requirements for relevant supervision and evaluation work. By organizing relevant evaluations, the State Council has effectively played its role as the conducting baton. Mao Qunan, Vice Director of the Office of Promotion Committee of the Healthy China Initiative and Director of the Planning Department of National Health Commission introduced that, China has used a combination of measures to implement the Healthy China initiative, and has made positive progress in five areas. Firstly, a basic health promotion policy system has been established; secondly, factors related to health risks have been effectively controlled; thirdly, the capability to safeguard health in the full lifecycle has been significantly improved; fourthly, serious diseases have been effectively contained; fifthly, the participating atmosphere involving all sectors of society have been strengthened. The Healthy China initiative have seen a well beginning and solid progress.
In recent years, relevant departments of National Patriotic Health Campaign Committee and Promotion Committee of the Healthy China initiative earnestly implemented the campaign on promoting health and environment. And many rounds of special patriotic health campaigns have been conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, in order to build a clean environment where people’s healthiness can be improved accordingly. Urban and rural environment quality have both been obviously improved, with various indicators of healthy environment moving in a positive direction.
Next, National Health Commission will work together with relevant departments to further improve governance on urban and rural environmental sanitation, so as to build a healthy living environment and lower the risks of disease transmission through environment.
Capability for health protection in full lifecycle has been significantly improved.
China has improved its health care system according to the needs of key groups and continuously advanced health care service capability. The National Programs for the Development of Women and Children have been fully implemented, the tasks set in the 13th Five-Year plan have been comprehensively achieved, and the coverage rate of children eye-care services and examination of visual acuity reaches 91.7%. The total annual drop of myopia rate of children and teenagers basically reached expectation. Cases of new vocational diseases reported nationwide has continued to fall.
Teenagers are at their key life stage of physical and psychological development, during which they are gradually adapting to the society. The health of students lays the vital foundation to a healthy population. For many years, especially these three years since the launch of the Healthy China initiative, China has always insisted on the education philosophy of putting health first, and effectively promoted the special campaign to promote students’ health in primary- and middle- schools.
Data shows that currently, 33% Chinese students have passed the national standard test on students’ physical health. Up to 2021, there are 770,000 teachers allocated for physics and health courses in schools at the national basic education stage.
‘Students’ health awareness and health conditions have both been further enhanced, and relevant schools’ awareness and capability of health promotion have also been further strengthened.’ Liu Peijun, Vice Director of Department of Physical, Health and Art Education of Ministry of Education said.
Protecting teenagers from the harm of tobacco is key to ensuring their healthy development. Next step, National Health Commission will join hands with relevant departments to take full efforts to keep teenagers away from tobacco and build a cigarette controlling mechanism featuring collaboration, co-governance, and common gains for the government, the society and individuals, thus laying a solid foundation for further construction of a Healthy China.
A combination of measures has been taken to ensure service provision for people’s physical exercises.
In recent years, under the guidance of the Promotion Office of the Healthy China initiative and with the joint efforts of the society, public fitness programs have made outstanding progress.
‘Every five years, General Administration of Sports of China holds a national investigation on public fitness programs and an evaluation on people’s physical health. Based on the established data, in the year of 2020, 37.2% of the investigated population regularly participated in physical exercises, up 3.3% from 2014, and 90.4% of the evaluated population reached the evaluation standards.’ introduced by Gao Yuanyi, Vice Director of Group Department of General Administration of Sports of China. He also said that the facilities and venues for public fitness programs have kept being improved.
The Opinions on Building a Higher-Level Service System for Public Fitness Programs issued before has proposed to build a multi-level net of fitness facilities and a 15-minute fitness circle in municipal-, township- and community-levels.
The General Administration has also taken multiple practical measures to address people’s difficulties of ‘where to go for exercises’. The General Administration has carried out a weakness-strengthen project to provide facilities and venues for public fitness programs, supporting the construction of sports park, fitness center, fitness pathway, county-level sports venue and soccer field, etc.
Besides, the question of how to build on fitness scientifically also stands vital in promoting the public fitness programs. Gao Yuanyi appealed that scientific fitness building requires the participation of the whole society, even more of the fitness-builders. He hopes that everyone can gain a good command of fitness skills and jointly build a Healthy China.
(Source: Xinhua News)
