By Shi Zhipeng, People’s Daily Overseas Edition
People’s health is the foundation forhuman civilization and social progress, and a significant symbol of national prosperity and strength, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted on March 6.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks when he visitednational political advisors from education, medical and health sectors attending a joint group meeting at the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, in Beijing, capital of China. Xi joined them in the discussion and heard their comments and suggestions.
The CPC has always attached great importance to people’s health. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee led by Xi has placed safeguarding people’s health in a more prominent position.
From issuing the“Healthy China 2030” blueprint to deciding at the 19th CPC National Congress to implement the Healthy China initiative, and then incorporating the implementation of the Healthy China initiative into the country’s Basic Healthcare and Health Promotion Law, China has made its path ofhealthcare and health development that suits its national realitywider and wider.
A political party’s governance effectiveness and philosophy can be seen through the efforts it makes to safeguard people’s health in a major health crisis.
In the face of the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPC Central Committee has always put people and their lives before anything else, and protected people’s lives and health to the greatest extent.
By making all-out efforts to treat every patient,be it a centenarianor a newborn baby,the CPC has fully proven its determination to give top priority to safeguarding people’s health and shown the world once again that the Party always stays true to its promises made to the people.
China made notable achievements in health undertakings during its 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).By the end of 2019, the average life expectancy of the Chinese people had risen to 77.3 years, while more than 1.35 billion people had beencovered by the country’s basic medical insurance.
Nevertheless, the country still faces a complex situation where threats from multiple diseases coexist and many factors affecting people’s health intertwine. Safeguarding people’s health remains a long-term systematic project.
China’s fight against the COVID-19, while demonstrating itsnational strength again, has also helped the country understand that it can only realize the sound and coordinated development of the health sector and its economic and social development by making efforts to ensure the delivery of comprehensive and full-lifecycle health services for the people, speeding up the establishment and improvement of relevant institutions and systems, guaranteeing public health security, and accelerating the formation of lifestyles, modes of production, economic and social development patterns and governance models that are conducive to people’s health.
Health is an eternal aspiration of all mankind. In recent years, China has constantly strengthened international cooperation in the health sector, and achieved important progress in its participation in global health governance.
Under the belief that nothing matters more than people’s lives, China has actively carried out international cooperation on combating the COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The country has provided all possible assistance and support within its capacity for over 150 countries and 13 international organizations in the global fight against the COVID-19, and has provided or is providing free vaccine aid for more than 60 countries in need, fully demonstrating its sense of responsibility as a major country.
According toChina’s latest Report on the work of the government released on March 5, the country’s new economic and social development goals for this year include raising the average life expectancy of the Chinese people by one year and advancing the implementation of the Healthy China initiative in an all-round way.
These new goals represent a clear signal that China is bound to further enhance its capability to safeguard people’s health during its 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).
