Key to realizing life expectancy goals lies in rural areas

Six decades ago, when I was just six years old, for several months it was my uncle who came to fetch me from my boarding kindergarten to spend weekends with my grandparents.

My parents, I was told, were in the hospital, with my father suffering from tuberculosis and my mother from hepatitis. At that time, both diseases were infectious and, sometimes, fatal.

As a six-year-old, I could only cry and pray that they recover and live till the age of 60 — a target I also set for myself. As a child, I had no idea about life expectancy and set the goal just because I had heard people talk about someone having lived till "the ripe old age of 70".

Thanks to China's better living conditions, improved medical care, and probably my prayers, both my parents lived longer than I had prayed for, with my father passing away at the age of 91 and my mother at 86, even though they had to spend their last few years in the hospital.

The National Health Plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), released by the State Council, China's Cabinet, has set the country's life expectancy at 80 years, an increase of three months over last year. If China successfully meets the target, it will surpass many developed countries, and the world average of 73.5 years in 2024.

Checking China's historical records, I have little doubt that the target will be met — over the past few decades, the country has never failed to meet its Five-Year Plan goals. In fact, China has achieved the feat of raising the country's life expectancy from 67.9 years in 1981 to 79.25 years in 2025.

Every time I go through the details of the health plan, I feel I can sit back and relax. Going by the dozens of indices and practical measures in place, it seems that realizing the life expectancy goal is not going to be a problem. In fact, I feel, they have been extra cautious in setting the target.

The rates of infant mortality, maternal mortality and premature deaths, and of major chronic diseases, are likely to fall in tandem with the rise in life expectancy.

According to the plan, better-equipped hospitals will be established and measures will be taken to ensure citizens can find treatment options within 15 minutes' walking distance from their homes. The number of doctors and nurses will be increased to provide patients with better care.

To deal with the shortage of medical staff in rural areas, medical schools will open their doors wider to students and trainees from these regions on the condition that they return to their hometowns and villages after graduation and training to provide health services there.

More doctor exchange programs will be arranged so that rural doctors have more opportunities for training. Remote medical care will be encouraged to provide timely healthcare to the rural population. Of the approximately one million licensed doctors working in village clinics, many are nearing retirement age, leading to the closing down of many village clinics.

Providing rural societies with better medical care remains a big challenge for health authorities in their quest to raise the country's life expectancy. The challenge becomes tough when we realize that rural areas are fast turning into aging societies, as millions of young people from rural areas migrate to the cities in search of jobs.

While the required tweak (increase or decrease) in the rate of other indexes to meet the plan's goal is less than one percent, the biggest hurdle to cross is in residents' health literacy levels, from 33.69 percent last year to 40 percent five years later.

Health literacy indicates a citizen's ability to obtain and understand health information and their capability to make the right healthcare choices.

Publicity drives should be undertaken to encourage residents to adopt healthy living habits, such as not smoking, controlled drinking, and reduced sugar and salt intake. Awareness should be raised among citizens about chronic diseases such as hypertension and hyperglycemia, and they should undergo routine physical check-ups.

They should also engage in regular physical exercise — at least three times a week and no less than 30 minutes each time.

Surveys find disparities in urban and rural areas regarding sports, with around 38.5 percent of urban residents regularly engaging in sports activities compared with about 31 percent of their counterparts in rural areas.

It seems the rural areas hold the key to realizing, or not realizing, the country's improved life expectancy goal.

Health authorities will find that a lot needs to be done in this regard in the rural areas.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.