Health expert: Prioritize aging, chronic disease in building health system

A senior health expert has called for prioritizing chronic diseases, major infectious diseases and geriatric health in the development of population and public health disciplines in China.

Ji Xunming, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, identified an aging population, the growing burden of chronic disease multimorbidities in which patients have two or more serious conditions, emerging infectious diseases, and health inequity as some of the most pressing challenges.

He made the remarks during the 4th China Conference on Population Medicine and Public Health that was held by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing on Wednesday.

To address these challenges and build a population medicine and public health disciplinary system, Ji emphasized the need to focus on key health issues, deepen the integration of public health, clinical medicine, social sciences and digital technologies, and generate comprehensive research covering risk identification, disease mechanism studies, intervention strategies and policy recommendations.

Ji also stressed the importance of giving greater attention to the grassroots level and regions with limited resources, while promoting coordination among hospitals, primary health institutions and public health agencies.

He further called for strengthening international cooperation on polio eradication, cervical cancer prevention and control, and maternal and child health, as well as enhancing technology transfer, training and capacity-building for other developing countries, so as to translate China's experience into affordable, accessible and sustainable health public goods for the world.