China’s medical research revolution

After several decades focusing on economic development, China recently broadened its national development agenda and included health as a major priority. China’s president, Xi Jinping, confirmed the importance of health for the country’s political leadership by saying that health is “a prerequisite for people’s all round development and a precondition for economic and social development.” 1 In 2016, China published its first health plan, Healthy China 2030, to guide and coordinate a national strategy to improve population health and the national health system.

Although prioritising health is welcome, the solutions to China’s challenges are dependent on high quality medical research. China’s vast geography and population create complexities for researchers but also offer unprecedented opportunities to study disease management and health system design. Unrivalled demographics that allow even rare diseases to be studied in quick time combined with economic growth and investment in science put China on the threshold of a revolution in medical research.

China boasts …