Policy digest

Plan to combat chronic diseases

The State Council, China's Cabinet, released a medium-and long-term plan for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases from 2017-25. According to the plan, China's core target will be lowering premature mortality rates caused by major chronic diseases. The plan said that by 2020, the country's premature mortality rate, caused mainly by cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes should be reduced by 10 percent compared with 2015 and by 2025 the rate should be cut by 20 percent. Sixteen concrete tasks for reducing the premature mortality rate were put forward in the plan.

Document helps fight tuberculosis

The State Council publicized a circular on tuberculosis prevention and treatment during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period. It clarified a series of quantitative indicators in terms of diagnosis, regular treatment management, provision of medical aid, prevention and treatment measures targeted at those susceptible to catching TB. It will also boost services to combat and treat the disease. According to the document, services for preventing and treating tuberculosis should be further improved by 2020 and those who have the disease should be diagnosed early and given access to regular treatment. It added that the public should have access to equitable, accessible, systematic and uninterrupted tuberculosis prevention and treatment services and the incidence and mortality rates of tuberculosis should be further reduced by that year.

Promoting a smart elderly care sector

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission released an action plan for promoting the development of the elderly healthcare sector through the internet and "intelligent" equipment from 2017 to 2020. By 2020, the plan said, an "intelligent" elderly healthcare system should be established and more than 100 demonstration bases should be set up;more than 100 leading enterprises in the sector should be fostered and well-known brands should be promoted in the sector.

Student rights better protected

The Ministry of Education publicized a revised management regulation for students at higher-education institutions. The document stipulates the rights and duties of students, management of academic credentials, campus order and extracurricular activities, rewards and punishments, and the appeals process for students. The new rule requires support to be provided for innovative activities and business startups by students. The protection of student rights has also been strengthened. Moreover, the management of colleges will be more law-based.

Civil aviation to be boosted

The Civil Aviation Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Transport released a plan for the development of China's civil aviation industry in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period. According to the plan, by 2020, aviation passenger volume should reach 720million, the number of civil transportation airports should be around 260, the number of general airports should exceed 500, and aircraft numbers should exceed 5,000.

Policy to increase jobs channels

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released a circular on the graduation and employment of college students for this year. The circular required that all local governments should help increase channels of employment for college graduates and they should also devise supportive policies encouraging college students to launch their businesses so that they can have access to preferential salaries, taxation, subsidies and credit guarantee policies if they opt to start up a business.Moreover, the local governments should provide targeted employment services for college students, the circular said.

(China Daily USA 02/21/2017 page7)