Elderly residents play table tennis at a park in Beijing on September 1, 2025. Photo: IC

China has built the world’s largest disease prevention and control system and raised Chinese people’s average life expectancy to 79 years as of 2024, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said at a press conference on the medical and healthcare achievements made during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), held by the State Council Information Office on Thursday, China Central Television reported. 

China has built the world’s largest disease prevention and control system by establishing a four-tier disease prevention and control network covering national, provincial, municipal, and county (district) levels, while continuing patriotic health campaigns and strengthening primary-level health governance. The health literacy level of Chinese residents rose from 23.2 percent in 2020 to 31.9 percent in 2024, according to figures released at the press conference. 

The government provides residents with free immunization services against 15 diseases, and the premature mortality rate from major chronic diseases has continued to decline. In addition, the incidence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and HIV/AIDS has continued to fall or remain at a low level, according to the NHC. 

China’s average life expectancy reached 79 years in 2024, 1.1 years higher than in 2020, while the maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate continued to decline, the NHC said. 

By the end of 2024, the number of practicing pediatricians in China reached 243,900, an increase of 49.3 percent compared with 163,400 in 2020. The number of hospital beds per 1,000 children rose to 2.47, up 13.3 percent from 2.18 beds in 2020, significantly improving both service accessibility and specialization, according to the NHC. 

Between 2020 and 2024, the number of primary-level medical and healthcare institutions in China increased from 970,000 to 1.04 million, the number of medical and healthcare practitioners rose from 4.34 million to 5.26 million, and the number of medical visits grew from 4.1 billion to 5.3 billion.

In addition, China will launch HPV vaccination services this year for girls of appropriate age and include the HPV vaccine in national immunization programs to protect women’s health, the NHC said. 

China also introduced a series of policies and measures to support childbirth, child-rearing, and education during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Economic measures include incorporating the expenses of caring for children under age 3 into special additional deductions for individual income tax and raising the deduction standard to 2,000 yuan ($281) per child per month. All provinces have included assisted reproductive technology (ART) services in medical insurance reimbursement, and in more than 60 percent of pooled areas, maternity allowances are paid directly to individuals. 

In terms of time support, most provinces have extended maternity leave and introduced paternity leave and parental leave. 

Meanwhile, China also issued or improved a series of supportive policies and measures in education and housing to expand the supply of quality educational resources and affordable housing. 

As of 9:00 am on Wednesday, more than 24 million childcare subsidy applications had been submitted nationwide, covering about 80 percent of the target population, according to the NHC. 

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the incidence of macrosomia at birth declined for five consecutive years, and the overweight and obesity rate among children under 6 fell to 9.7 percent from 10.4 percent five years ago. Chinese children’s nutritional status has continuously improved: the stunting and underweight rates among children under 6 dropped to 4.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, and the average heights of boys and girls aged 6 to 17 increased by 2.1 centimeters and 2.2 centimeters, respectively.

The NHC also revealed during the press briefing that China’s share of new drugs under development accounts for more than 20 percent of the global total, ranking second in the world in new drug R&D. A number of domestically developed innovative drugs have been approved for market launch, filling gaps in their respective fields. The domestically developed cancer drug Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) was also approved for market launch in multiple countries.

China’s domestically developed high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been widely used in clinical practice, rapidly improving the accessibility and affordability of HPV vaccines in the country. Recently, the domestically produced nine-valent HPV vaccine has also been officially put into use, according to the NHC. 

Global Times