Wang Hesheng: Promoting Decisive Progress in the Construction of a Healthy China During the "15th Five-Year Plan" Period
Health is the foundation of the people's happiness and the essential requirement for a powerful nation. During this year’s National Two Sessions [1], General Secretary Xi Jinping visited members of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, the Jiusan Society, the medical and health circles, and the social welfare and social security circles attending the Fourth Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). At this joint group meeting, he delivered a series of new and important discourses on accelerating the construction of a Healthy China. At the critical juncture of initiating the 15th Five-Year Plan [2], General Secretary Xi Jinping personally diagnosed the pulse and set the course for hygiene and health work, pointing out the direction, providing the fundamental follow-through, and injecting powerful momentum into the accelerated construction of a Healthy China. We must persist in taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guide, persist in a people-centered approach, work with practical diligence, and persist over the long term to achieve lasting results. We must strive to promote decisive progress in the construction of a Healthy China during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, making new and greater contributions to the completion of a Healthy China by 2035 and the comprehensive advancement of the great cause of building a powerful nation and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization.
Deeply Understand the Rich Connotations of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Discourses on Constructing a Healthy China
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important discourses on constructing a Healthy China are visionary, profound in thought, and rich in connotation. They constitute an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and possess immense political, ideological, and guiding significance. We must profoundly grasp their rich connotations, ensuring they are studied, understood, and implemented in an integrated manner.
Enriching and developing the Marxist view of people's health. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [3], General Secretary Xi Jinping has issued a series of important instructions and comments on the construction of a Healthy China, emphasizing that people’s health is an important hallmark of national prosperity and state strength. He has stressed persisting in the public welfare nature of basic medical and health services, maintaining the correct handling of the relationship between the government and the market, and promoting the equalization of basic public services between urban and rural areas. These important discourses both inherit the core Marxist essence of valuing people’s health and pursuing social justice, while also imbuing them with distinct Chinese characteristics and the connotations of the times, thereby promoting the Sinicization and modernization of the Marxist view of people's health. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, historic changes and achievements have occurred in our nation’s hygiene and health sectors. The basic medical and health system and institutions with Chinese characteristics have been continuously improved, and major health indicators for residents have jumped to the forefront of upper-middle-income countries. In particular, we withstood the severe impact of the pandemic of the century, creating a miracle in the history of human civilization where a country with a massive population successfully emerged from a pandemic. Through these tangible results, we have demonstrated the unique advantages of Party leadership and the socialist system, vividly showcasing the powerful truth and practical might of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We must consciously maintain a high degree of unity in thought, politics, and action with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, remain unwavering in upholding the Party’s leadership over hygiene and health work, remain unwavering in implementing the health guidelines for the New Era, and always move forward steadily along the path of hygiene and health development with Chinese characteristics.
Demonstrating the value orientation of putting the people above all else. General Secretary Xi Jinping has always kept the health and well-being of the masses in his heart, consistently practicing this commitment personally. During his seven years as an educated youth [4], he served as a "barefoot doctor" [5], effectively improving the production, life, and sanitary environment of farmers through measures such as promoting biogas. While working in Zhengding, Hebei, he attached great importance to rural environmental sanitation. While working in Fujian, he explicitly demanded the resolution of problems caused by "using medicine to support medical practice" [6], deepening the reform of the medical and health system and focusing on subsidizing the shortcomings in rural health services. While working in Zhejiang, he was the first in the nation to propose the strategy of a "Province Strong in Health," incorporating hygiene and health work into the overall landscape of economic and social development—truly embodying the sentiment that "every leaf and every branch is a matter of the heart" [7]. Since the 18th National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally set the direction and removed obstacles for deepening the reform of the medical and health system. He has personally deployed important work concerning the health and well-being of the people, such as infectious disease prevention and control, maternal and child health, myopia prevention in children and adolescents, chronic disease prevention, elderly health, and mental health. This fully reflects a deep affection for the people and a people-centered development philosophy. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to persist in putting the people first and life first, and to maintain the public welfare nature of basic medical and health services. This is determined by the nature and fundamental purpose of our Party, and it is a vivid manifestation of the significant superiority of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must always keep in mind the urgent problems, anxieties, and basic needs of the masses regarding health, disease prevention, and seeking medical treatment. We must take the initiative to go deep into the grassroots, stay close to the masses, listen to their voices, reflect their demands, and serve as a "bridge and bond" between the Party, the government, and the masses—conveying the people’s voices upward and explaining the Party’s policies downward, responding to the expectations of the masses with practical actions.
Containing profound dialectical thinking and a scientific methodology. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that constructing a Healthy China is a systematic project. Facing the increasingly diverse medical and health needs of the masses, we must highlight priorities and firmly grasp the tasks that benefit a wide range of people and affect the whole situation [8]. We must concentrate strength and resources on improving the public health system, building a high-quality and efficient medical service system, and advocating for healthy and civilized lifestyles through effective measures, continuously achieving new results. These important discourses emphasize the important methodology of persisting in a systems perspective and grasping key focal points, while also clearly identifying the priority tasks and main directions for the construction of a Healthy China. They provide a powerful ideological weapon and scientific practical guidance for hygiene and health work.
Unswervingly Fulfill the Path of Hygiene and Health Development with Chinese Characteristics; Unswervingly Implement the Health Guidelines for the New Era
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that our country is a socialist country and a developing country with a massive population and significant gaps between urban and rural areas and regions. Constructing a Healthy China must proceed from our national conditions, unswervingly following the path of hygiene and health development with Chinese characteristics and unswervingly implementing the health guidelines for the New Era. Since the 18th National Congress, immense progress has been made in the construction of a Healthy China: the health level of the people has steadily improved, the prevention and treatment of major diseases have achieved remarkable results, the quality and level of health services have significantly increased, the health of the masses throughout their entire life cycle has been effectively maintained, and the strength of health science and technology innovation has steadily risen. This fully demonstrates that the path of hygiene and health development with Chinese characteristics, carved out under the Party’s leadership, is a scientific and correct path proven by long-term practice to be suited to our national conditions. It is the only road for guaranteeing the people’s health and realizing the strategic objectives of a Healthy China. We must implement the important requirement of the "Two Unswervings," ensuring this path is traversed steadily, solidly, and effectively.
Persisting in the Party’s comprehensive leadership. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the greatest advantage of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Persisting in the Party’s comprehensive leadership is the fundamental guarantee for doing hygiene and health work well. Since the founding of the People's Republic and especially in the New Era, the historic changes and achievements in our hygiene and health work have fundamentally relied on persisting in and strengthening the Party’s comprehensive leadership. Currently, faced with the "deep-water zones" and "hard bones" [9] of constructing a Healthy China and deepening the medical and health system reform, only by integrating the Party’s comprehensive leadership into every aspect and the entire process of hygiene and health development can we provide a strong political and organizational guarantee.
Strengthening institutional confidence. Since the 1980s, influenced by neoliberalism and other ideological trends, the health systems of some countries have experienced varying degrees of excessive commercialization and marketization, insufficient provision of primary and public health services, rising medical costs, and declining equity and accessibility. The Western medical model emphasizes the individual while neglecting the population, prioritizes treatment over prevention, and stresses biological factors while ignoring the impact of social and cultural factors on health, leading to excessively rapid increases in medical expenses. We must give full play to the institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics, promote excellent traditional Chinese health culture such as the "unity of heaven and humanity" [10], "treating diseases before they arise" (preventative care) [11], and "cultivating both the physical form and the spirit," while practicing the Party’s mass line for the New Era. We must value grassroots and mass work, better implement the principle of prevention first, and achieve greater health outcomes at lower costs. We must satisfy the growing health needs of the masses while avoiding the "welfare trap," following the path of hygiene and health development with Chinese characteristics and making positive contributions to safeguarding human health and well-being.
Unswervingly implementing the health guidelines for the New Era. We must comprehensively implement the guidelines of "focusing on the grassroots, taking reform and innovation as the driving force, putting prevention first, placing equal emphasis on Chinese and Western medicine, integrating health into all policies, and ensuring development for the people and by the people." This will promote a comprehensive transformation in health concepts, service modes, and governance models. Greater emphasis must be placed on prevention first and the integration of medical care and prevention, shifting the focus from disease treatment to health maintenance and accelerating the construction of a robust public health system to prevent and control major diseases at their source. Greater emphasis must be placed on equal importance for Chinese and Western medicine, promoting their complementary and coordinated development, and giving full play to the unique advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in preventative care, major disease treatment, and rehabilitation. We must greater emphasize reliance on science, technology, and talent—strengthening technological innovation and building a strong workforce to provide lasting impetus for the development of health sectors.
Persisting in the public welfare nature of basic medical and health services. Public welfare is the essential attribute of our medical and health services and an important manifestation of the superiority of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly expounded on the significance of persisting in this public welfare nature from the height of "our Party being a Party that serves the people wholeheartedly, and our country being a socialist country where the people are the masters of the house." We must deepen the reform of public hospitals with a public welfare orientation, and improve new operating mechanisms that maintain public welfare, stimulate motivation, and ensure sustainability. We must resolutely break down profit-seeking mechanisms, standardize medical service behavior, and control the unreasonable growth of medical expenses so that the masses can afford medical care, receive good treatment, and feel at ease. Persisting in the equity and accessibility of basic medical and health services, and accelerating the equalization of basic public health services—taking equity, accessibility, and benefit to the masses as the starting point and goal of reform—is an essential requirement of socialist hygiene and health endeavors.
Persisting in the strategy of prioritizing health development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The most important indicator of modernization is the people’s health." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly proposed the implementation of a health-prioritized development strategy, further emphasizing the important status of people’s health in economic and social development. We must take the protection and improvement of health as a priority goal for high-quality economic and social development. We should encourage all regions to comprehensively establish systems for monitoring, investigating, and assessing disease and health risk factors. We must continuously improve the system of policies, regulations, planning, investment, governance, and performance evaluation that guarantee health-prioritized development. We must improve the health promotion policy system characterized by Party committee leadership, government dominance, broad social mobilization, and active individual participation. By continuously increasing resident life expectancy and health levels, we aim to ensure that China’s health performance rankings generally lead other economic and social development indicators globally.
Persisting in systematic planning and coordinated advancement. The construction of a Healthy China covers all people, the entire life cycle, and the full process of health services, involving numerous fields such as medical care, medical insurance, pharmaceuticals, public health, physical fitness, and environmental protection. It is a systematic project that spans departments, regions, and industries. We must strengthen systematic integration and synergistic efficiency, enhancing departmental coordination, vertical linkage, and social participation. We must coordinately handle a series of major relationships: government and market, efficiency and equity, development and security, prevention and treatment, Chinese and Western medicine, upholding fundamentals and breaking new ground, and domestic and international contexts. We must bridge departmental silos and link central and local efforts to ensure policies complement each other and measures resonate at the same frequency. We must fully consider local economic conditions and the development of other industries, reasonably guide expectations, and prevent and resolve major hidden risks to maintain overall economic and social stability.
Focusing on Key Tasks to Write a New Chapter in the Construction of a Healthy China
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that building a Healthy China by 2035 is a strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee. The 15th Five-Year Plan is a critical period for achieving this goal; we must plan holistically and accelerate progress to strive for decisive breakthroughs. This has set the timetable and roadmap for building a Healthy China. We must act with a spirit of working backward from the deadline and fighting according to the map, resolutely ensuring that General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and deployments are implemented effectively.
Improve the public health system and fortify a high-level public health security barrier. We must persist in treating public health security as a vital component of national security. By comprehensively summarizing the experiences and practices gained from the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we will accelerate the construction of a public health system that is complete in scope, scientifically standardized, efficient in operation, and capable of shifting between " peacetime and emergency" (pingji jiehe) [12] modes. We shall promote social co-governance, coordination between clinical medicine and disease prevention, and the integration of medical and preventive services. This will comprehensively enhance our capacity for risk prevention in the health and hygiene sectors, providing strong guarantees for biosafety, information security, emergency rescue safety, blood safety, and food and drug safety. We must improve the disease prevention and control system by strengthening the construction of capabilities in monitoring and early warning, risk assessment, epidemiological investigation, testing and examination, and emergency response. This will raise the level of early detection, reporting, disposal, and treatment of epidemics, effectively preventing and controlling major outbreaks and sudden public health emergencies. We will advance the integration of medical and preventive services, refine the coordination mechanisms between medical institutions and disease control agencies, and push for the downward extension of prevention and control resources and personnel to strengthen and optimize the "gatekeeper" system for health.
Build a high-quality, efficient medical and health service system and promote the expansion and downward extension of resources. We must proactively respond to the structural trends of declining birth rates, an aging population, and regional shifts in population distribution. To adapt to changes in the spectrum of disease, we target the fulfillment of the masses' needs for medical treatment by accelerating the construction of a medical and health service system that is high-quality, balanced, efficient, and convenient. We must implement the functional positioning of medical and health institutions, promoting the expansion of high-quality medical resources and their balanced regional distribution. We will build strong national medical centers and regional medical centers to enhance provincial-level diagnosis and treatment capabilities, thereby reducing the need for the masses to seek medical care across different regions. We will vigorously develop grassroots medical and health institutions and improve the family doctor system so that the masses can enjoy high-quality medical and health services "at their doorstep."
Deepen the coordinated development and governance of medical services, medical insurance, and the pharmaceutical industry to enhance the momentum and vitality of development. We must persist in systemic integration and collaborative efficiency to continuously deepen the reform of the medical and health system. We will promote the coordinated development and governance of medical services, health insurance, and pharmaceuticals, and promote the implementation and effectiveness of the Sanming medical reform experience [13] in light of local conditions. We will deepen the reform of public hospitals with a public-interest orientation, optimize financial subsidy policies for public hospitals, establish a mechanism for the dynamic adjustment of personnel quotas (bianzhi) [14], refine pricing mechanisms led by medical services, and continue to deepen the reform of the compensation system while strengthening internal and external supervision and management. We will deepen the reform of the medical insurance system and optimize policies for the use of surplus medical insurance funds. We will also promote the reform of the drug supply guarantee and use management system, consolidating and improving the national essential medicines system.
Advocate for healthy and civilized lifestyles and enhance the health literacy of the entire population. A Healthy China is built by everyone and shared by everyone. The Patriotic Health Campaign (aiguo weisheng yundong) [15] is a valuable historical experience created in the early years of the New China; it possesses distinct Chinese characteristics, remains fresh over time, and serves as a powerful tool for advancing the construction of a Healthy China. We must deeply summarize the long-term practice and successful experience of the Patriotic Health Campaign, accurately grasping its unique advantages, core role, and mission in the New Era. Closely revolving around the goal of building a Healthy China by 2035, we will continuously enrich the connotations of patriotic health work, innovate working methods, consolidate the mass base, strengthen multi-party synergy, and carry out the Patriotic Health Campaign in depth. We will guide the masses to establish a correct outlook on health. We will also strengthen food safety, drinking water safety, and environmental governance to continuously solidify the environmental foundation for Healthy China.
Accelerate the transformation and application of scientific research achievements and strengthen the support of scientific and technological talent. We must persist in the principle that technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary motive power to strengthen the support for high-quality development in health and hygiene. We will improve the health science and technology innovation system and strengthen research on key core technologies in the health field. Focusing on key areas such as disease prevention and control, drug R&D, medical devices, and vaccines, we will accelerate breakthroughs in "chokepoint" (kakouzi) [16] technologies to achieve high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology. In particular, we must clear the "last mile" for the transformation of scientific research achievements, improve the collaborative innovation mechanism of "industry, academia, research, medicine, and application," and establish a system for project initiation and achievement evaluation guided by clinical needs. Firmly grasping the work philosophy of closely combining "investment in things" with "investment in people," we will strengthen the cultivation and training of high-level talent, grassroots talent, and talent in urgent demand in the health field. This will create a favorable environment that encourages innovation and tolerates failure, providing solid technological and human resource support for the construction of a Healthy China.
Promote the preservation, innovation, and development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to let this Chinese health treasure shine. We must persist in giving equal importance to both Chinese and Western medicine and using both Chinese and Western pharmaceuticals, ensuring that this precious wealth of TCM is well-inherited, developed, and utilized. We will strengthen the construction of the TCM service system, improve the comprehensive service capabilities of TCM hospitals, and promote the integration of TCM into the grassroots, families, and life-cycle health management. We will advance scientific and technological innovation in TCM, accelerating the R&D and application of classic prescriptions, new TCM drugs, and characteristic therapies, thereby promoting the integrated development of TCM and modern science and technology. We will also promote the dissemination of TCM culture and popularize TCM health knowledge to improve the health literacy of the masses regarding TCM culture.
Advance the construction of "digital and intelligent" (shuzhihua) health for all to empower high-quality development. We must make good use of data as a new factor of production and artificial intelligence as a new tool of production to accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation of the health and hygiene industry. We will improve national and provincial information platforms for health, promoting data interconnection and sharing as well as collaborative business processing to enhance the precision and convenience of health management services. We will promote and regulate the application and development of "AI + Healthcare," innovating a continuous chain of intelligent services covering prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and health management to empower the construction of a Healthy China through digital intelligence.
Strengthen Party building within the health and hygiene industry to stimulate endogenous motivation. The vast numbers of medical personnel are the main force in advancing the construction of a Healthy China. We must strengthen Party building in medical and health institutions and guide medical personnel to consciously adhere to the public-interest orientation, practice the noble professional spirit and the Great Anti-Epidemic Spirit, and promote excellent medical ethics and style, thereby creating a clean and upright industry environment. We will implement comprehensive measures across compensation, career development, practicing environment, and social status, establishing and improving an operational mechanism that combines protection with incentives. We will deepen the reform of the compensation system in public hospitals, unblock career development channels for medical personnel, and foster a social trend of "respecting doctors and valuing health."
(The author is a member of the Education, Science, Health, and Sports Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former Deputy Director of the National Health Commission.) Source: People's Daily (March 26, 2026) Editor: Hui Hui