China is doing better than other, more developed countries in some areas of health promotion, according to Hou Yan, director of the Department of Planning and Information, part of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission.

He said the level of health among residents in China is better than the average of that in mid and high income countries, while the average life expectancy has reached 76.3 in 2015. 

Hou was speaking at a parallel session on "Healthy China strategic plan" on Nov 23, as part of the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai.

Hygienic resources are increasing, while at the same time, people's need for medical services is also increasing, said Hou.

The "Healthy China 2030 strategic plan" has set goals that by 2020, main health indexes will rank among that of mid and high income countries, by 2030 main health indexes will rank top among high income countries and by 2050 China will have completed building a modern healthy country.

The health needs of Chinese people are increasing at the same time as the country is on its way to becoming a high income country. Liu Yunan, deputy director of the Department of Social Policy and Development at the National Development and Reform Commission of China said that the needs of specialized medical care, health management, health in pension care, health in tourism and health in sports are increasing "very fast." Developing a health service system that is all-dimensional, covering the life cycle, is an essential task, he added.

The unbalanced distribution of medical resources in China means that information technology plays a more and more important role in providing equal, accessible and effective medical service in the construction of a healthy China. Meng Qun, director of the Statistics and Information Center at the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, urged for a top-level design of the health sector for the whole country.

Liu Hongzhi, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology Standards, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, pointed out that good environment is the cornerstone of health. He added that the Ministry of Environmental Protection would set up pollution prevention and control targets by focusing on public health, clearly define the different emphasis in rural and urban health work and environment problems, put efforts in the research of environment factors that have influence on health, and enhance people’s awareness of environment and health, environmental protection, resource conservation and climate change.