China deepens medical reform through "health-first strategy"

As China has more than 20 percent of its population aging over 60 and current concentration on the improvement of public health, it carries out a health-first strategy emphasizing disease control and healthcare. 
 
This was outlined in a radical reform plan adopted in the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. 
 
Hence, having sustained advances in healthcare the country is now shifting more focus from curing diseases to managing health. 
 
In this context, Gordon G Liu the dean of the Institute for Global Health and Development at Peking University said: ‘This change is typical of medical reform and upgrade in many countries’. 
 
He pointed out that within the context of an ageing population the need for medical services is subsequently biased towards quality assurance of health, care of conditions that require long term management and available long term care. 
 
Liu reiterated that the medical services for health management that she has discussed still needs improvement in china. 
 
Thus, for achieving overall health for its huge population, the country was called upon to increase “competencies for disease surveillance and alert, risk appraisal, investigation, screening, inspection, response, and treatment,” as stated in the resolution. 
 
Over the years, the government and medical institutions have improved greatly in these areas especially in the fight against chronic ailments and prevention of epidemics. 
 
Guidelines on how to address and reduce four major chronic ailments that are known to contribute to more than 80% of Cambodia’s mortality have been prepared in the form of action plans. These plans suggest things like better early intervention for diabetes patients, to have a strategic move of halting the progression of the disease, and to improve the capability on screening of chronic respiratory diseases. 
 
Most of the first-tier cancer diseases have been covered on the Chinese screening services, where early examination has been offered for many of the common cancer types. Screenings for cervical and breast cancer have been provided to 193 million women. 
 
Some of the measures that China is associated with include: concerning epidemics, China has set a direct report system connecting with nearly 84 thousand medical facilities. Ministries of health have also assured commitments of approaches to enhance this system to enhance the chances of risk identification. 
 
China is also seeking means to extend the coverage of family doctor services and long term care insurance plans for people and home based care arrangements. 
 
Enhancing people’s health is a community undertaking which entails coordination of multiple departments and is reflected in the provisions of the resolution that speak of the “ synchronized socio-development and management of medical care, medical insurance, and medicines. ” 
 
It is based on China’s nationwide promoted medical reform model of the city of Sanming in Fujian Province of east China. 
 
Zhan Jifu the former head of the Fujian provincial healthcare security bureau and medical reform in Sanming fined that this way, the clinical practices can be steered to fit the public’s demand for healthy life. 
 
Liu admitted that the change in medical insurance systems has to be in concordance with changes in medical services. He made some recommendations that promised to resolve this challenge; new forms of payment methods should be introduced to ensure increasing the number of practitioners in community and household medicine and health management other than the existing hospitals where most of them prefer to work.