Global commitments and China’s endeavors to promote health and achieve sustainable development goals

BACKGROUND: With its immense population and as the largest developing country in the world, China has made remarkable achievements in health promotion at a relatively low cost. However, China is still faced with challenges such as changes of disease spectrum, the coming era of an aging society, and the risk of environmental pollution. MAIN TEXT: On October 25, 2016, China formally passed the blueprint of “Healthy China 2030,” working towards the national goal of reaching a health standard on par with developed countries by 2030, which was also a response to realize the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “Healthy China 2030” is comprised of 29 chapters that cover five health areas. China is sparing no effort to transfer from being merely the most populous country, to becoming a leading nation in health education. In “Healthy China 2030,” collaborated construction and resource sharing were clearly stated as the core strategy. A shift in concentration towards coordinated development of health-based economy from a previous pursuit of rapid economic growth was also underlined. There are also several major issues, such as severely aging population, the burden of chronic diseases, the insufficiency of health expenditure, and the great demand on health protection, waiting to be dealt with during the implementation process of “Healthy China 2030”. CONCLUSIONS: “Healthy China 2030” is a momentous move to enhance public health, which is also a response to the global commitments. We also need to rethink our approach to reach the living standards and maintain a better environment.