(4) Right to health

The basic framework for a basic medical and health system covering the entire nation will be established so as to make China among the countries providing national basic health service.

- The main goals expected to be reached in 2010 are: average life expectancy, 73 years; infant mortality rate, below 14.9 per thousand; mortality rate of children under five, below 17.7 per thousand; mortality rate of pregnant and lying-in women, below 40 per 100,000; and the free national immunity vaccination program for children, 95 percent in cities and 90 percent in the countryside.

- Expediting the establishment of the basic medical care system. By 2010, the allowances from the budgets of governments at all levels to urban residents covered by medical insurance and rural residents covered by new rural cooperative medical services will be raised to 120 yuan per person annually. By 2011, urban workers' basic medical insurance, urban residents' basic medical insurance and new rural co-operative medical services will spread to cover the entire nation, with the rate of people taking out such insurance policies and of those who participate in rural cooperative medical services both reaching 90 percent or higher. The proportion of in-patient expenses to be reimbursed will be raised gradually, and the proportion and scope of out-patient expenses to be reimbursed will also be expanded.

- Improving basic medical and health services. Within three years, starting in 2009, efforts will be made to support the construction of 2,000 county-level hospitals(including traditional Chinese medicine hospitals), so that every county will have at least one up-to-standard hospital; 3,700 community health service centers and 11,000 community health service stations will be built or renovated in cities. The construction of 29,000 township hospitals planned and financially supported by the central authorities will be completed, as will the renovation or expansion of 5,000 hospitals in key townships, resulting in one to three hospitals for each county.

- Promoting equality in right to basic health services. Starting in 2009, a uniform health record for all residents will be established throughout the country. Regular health checkups will be conducted for people over 65 years old, so will be growth tests for infants below the age of three, prenatal examinations and postnatal visits for pregnant women and women who have given birth, and prevention and counseling services for sufferers of high blood pressure, diabetes, mental illnesses, AIDS and tuberculosis. Major public health programs will be carried out to prevent and control tuberculosis and other fatal diseases, spread national immunization, and ensure in-patient delivery of newborns by rural women. Other programs will be carried out to help those below the age of 15 receive Hepatitis B vaccines, eliminate risk posed by coal-burning fluorine poisoning, extract cataracts from poor patients to give back their eyesight, improve rural water and toilet facilities, and provide folic acid to rural women who are going to get pregnant and who are in their early pregnancy to prevent the birth of deformed babies.

- Infectious diseases will be brought under control. Endeavors will be made to strengthen the prevention and treatment of AIDS, and the prevention and control of major infectious diseases. The coverage of direct reporting of infectious disease incidences by medical and health institutions at the county level and above will be 100 percent, and that by those at town and township level will be 80 percent. The completeness and timeliness of such reporting will be 90 percent or above. Planned immunity will be made compulsory; the current zero rate of poliomyelitis will be maintained, and the incidence of the preventable measles will drop by 50 percent compared with the 2007 figure, and incidence of other preventable infectious diseases such as meningitis B, rabies and hemorrhagic fever will drop by 30 percent compared with the 2007 figures. The categories of immunity vaccines under state planning will be expanded, vaccination for rural residents and migrant population will be intensified, with priority being given to newborns, in-school students and other vulnerable persons, and the prevalence of Hepatitis B will be put under effective control. The prevention and treatment of parasitical and other endemic diseases will be tightened, so as to bring all relevant counties(cities and districts) up to the standards of control.

- The Law on Food Safety will be enacted, and systems governing food and medicine production permits, compulsory test, market access, recall, and import and export inspection and quarantine will be put in place, and examination and supervision will be strengthened over the implementation of the Law so as to ensure that the Law is enforced to the letter and our foodstuffs and medicines are safe.

- Providing safe drinking water for another 60 million rural population in 2009, so as to realize the goal of "halving the proportion of the population unable to sustainably get safe drinking water by 2015" set by the United Nations, ahead of schedule.

- More community sports facilities will be built for both urban and rural residents. By 2010, such facilities per capita will reach 1.4 sq m, and public sporting facilities in urban neighborhoods and rural towns and villages will be markedly improved. National fitness programs will be further spread, mass sport organizations will be encouraged and the national fitness system will be improved.