Giving Compass' Take:

• The authors at Brookings identify 5 areas in health that China must improve on in order to achieve their 2030 SDG targets. 

• How will China develop an action plan that prioritizes key policy interventions for target populations?

• Here is Giving Compass' Sustainable Development Overview. 

China made impressive gains during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era. According to the Report on China’s Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), China’s achievements included the following:

“The number of medical technicians and staff per thousand people rose from 3.63 people in 2000 to 5.40 people in 2014, and the number of beds per thousand in medical and health institutions increased from 2.38 in 2000 to 4.77 in 2014. … The under-five child mortality rate dropped from 61.0‰ in 1991 to 12.0‰ in 2013; the gap between urban and rural areas in child mortality rate was narrowed from 1:3.4 to 1:2.4; the maternal mortality rate dropped from 88.8 per 100,000 in 1990 to 23.2 per 100,000 in 2013; and the maternal mortality ratio between rural areas and urban areas declined from 1:2.2 to 1:1.1 times. … The prevalence of tuberculosis was 66 per 100,000 in 2010 with a mortality rate of 3.9 per 100,000, down by 51% and 79.5% respectively compared to that in 1990.”

Our research identified five key health challenges that China must meet in order to be successful.

  1. Hepatitis. China has not developed a comprehensive national plan for hepatitis control, despite having the highest hepatitis burden in the world.
  2. Tuberculosis. China has the second largest number of patients with MDR-TB and the case notification rate is very low.
  3. Noncommunicable diseases. There are insufficient prevention and health promotion efforts to address the risk factors for NCDs including smoking, drinking, physical inactivity, being overweight, and diet-related deficiencies.
  4. Out-of-pocket spending. Government spending on health has increased significantly.
  5. Aging. The final grand challenge that China needs to tackle in the upcoming decades is the health of a rapidly aging population.

Read the full article about China's health SDGs by Shu Chen, Wenhui Mao, and Shenglan Tang at Brookings.