In his Government Work Report delivered on March 5, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reiterated that the government should continuously raise the level of medical care to shape a healthy China. Li's remark drew a round of applause because the novel proposal sought to accelerate the perfection of a basic nationwide medical care system to ensure that all people can afford medical services.

This being said, however, the process of "shaping a healthy China" must still attend to the "equality in health and health care." The government should narrow the gap between the costs and benefits of health care so that people can enjoy living in a healthy nation.

Providing for people's health welfare requires making changes to basic health resources, public services and the political environment so that new health care policies will be implemented. Health equality is primarily determined by four aspects: equality of environment, equality of welfare programs, equality of education and equality of output.

Health is a human right for which the government is seriously responsible. Good polices and regulations regarding public health require ethical support and should aim to promote sustainable basic health in the society in question.

First of all, equality of environment is an important factor in determining whether a nation is able to ensure basic health. Environmental quality measures such as air quality have strong implications for the health of everyone, especially those who live in industrial cities and metropolises. Pollution causes huge damage to the environment and disrupts equality of environment.

The so-called "cancer villages" popping up across China are such examples. A Phoenix Weekly story in April 2009 listed 100 places that had the highest cancer rates in China. The statistics themselves are shocking, not to mention the stories behind them.

Development should be people-oriented, and people are health-oriented. The development pattern of the past several decades has produced what is called black GDP, or growth that has come at the cost of environmental quality and health. By contrast, green GDP embodies people-oriented growth, because any kind of development should aim to improve people's health and increase their happiness.

Second, equality in health welfare programs is a new dimension and new pursuit in the quest for social equality. The proportion of the population served by health welfare programs is an important criterion in the allocation of health resources. If primary public health resources are only open to a small proportion of the people or to rich people, then their distribution works against equality in health welfare.

The ideal state of equality in health welfare is one where most people can equitably share a nation's basic public health services and resources to promote their health regardless of financial status.

Third, equality in education is also key to the pursuit of health. Health means strength, hope and happiness. Education is an important way to obtain health, since education gives people knowledge and awareness of how to become healthy people. China should boost such education to help more people understand health, otherwise the "unhealthy population" could impose yet another negative impact on the already aging society in China.

Finally, health outputs should be equal. The health of China's 1.3 billion people is naturally the goal of economic development, but at the same time it is also a huge driving force behind that development. Therefore, exploring health care outputs to ensure that all possible efforts and abilities are expended to put fair policies in place should be part and parcel of "equality in health."

In his latest Government Work Report, Premier Li Keqiang mentioned that China's population of 1.3 billion, including 900 million in the labor force, is a "reliable source of strength to withstand downward pressure." When visiting Indonesia last October, Chinese President Xi Jinping also mentioned that the population could be a "huge force." Hence, a healthy population can be seen as a vital national asset.

To sum up, there should be a tool that measures the equality of health in a society, much like the Gini coefficient measures a nation's income distribution equality. How to invent such a measure poses a challenge to Chinese academia.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.formacion-profesional-a-distancia.com/opinion/muguangzong.htm

The article was translated by Chen Boyuan. Its original unabridged version was published in Chinese.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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