The 2026 National Health Work Conference was held in Beijing from January 5th to 6th. The conference comprehensively reviewed the achievements of health work in 2025 and the 14th Five-Year Plan period, fully deployed key tasks for 2026, clarified the guiding ideology and overall requirements for the work, and laid out a precise blueprint for health work in the new year by arranging 11 key tasks.

Overall Requirements

2026 marks the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. The national health system must deeply understand the decisive significance of establishing Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and establishing the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, resolutely uphold the Two Establishments and Two Safeguards, adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, all plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, and the Central Economic Work Conference, fully implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on building a Healthy China, adhere to the Party's health and health work policy for the new era, adhere to the policy orientation of making progress while maintaining stability, improving quality, controlling costs and increasing efficiency, promote the high-quality development of the health cause and population, and achieve a sound start to health work in the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

Key Tasks

1. Resolutely unify thinking and actions with the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Work Conference, creatively implement breakthrough policy measures, fully promote the implementation of the health priority development strategy, accurately grasp the close integration of investment in materials and investment in people, scientifically and efficiently formulate the 15th Five-Year Plan, and ensure that the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee are transformed into practical actions and tangible results.

2. Precisely implement the project of strengthening basic medical and health services and expanding and improving rehabilitation and nursing services. Optimize the functional positioning and structure of medical institutions in accordance with the principle of strengthening grassroots, stabilizing secondary and controlling tertiary hospitals, continuously promote the project of strengthening basic medical and health services, stabilize the operation of secondary hospitals and expand their rehabilitation and nursing functions, regulate the scale and development speed of tertiary hospitals, optimize their structure, and comprehensively improve the public welfare, accessibility and capacity of medical and health services.

3. Make every effort to promote the implementation of policies for deepening the medical and health system reform. Promote the strengthening of the Party's leadership over health work, comprehensively promote learning from Sanming and advancing medical reform at the prefectural and municipal level, promote the reform of public hospitals oriented towards public welfare, accelerate the construction of integrated county-level medical communities and urban medical groups, and support the provincial-level overall planning of basic medical insurance.

4. Continue to implement a number of new practical matters for serving the people. Implement 10 practical matters for serving the people in such aspects as pediatric services in primary medical and health institutions, psychological outpatient services at the county level, healthy weight management outpatient services in tertiary public general hospitals, increasing the number of mutually recognized inspection and testing items within cities, hemodialysis services at the county and grassroots levels, early pregnancy care outpatient services, the supply of affordable nursery places, vaccination services, training of backbone talents in Western Medicine Practitioners Learning Traditional Chinese Medicine, and health knowledge popularization. Continue to optimize and improve the standardization level of practical matters for serving the people implemented in 2025.

5. Fully strengthen Party building and the construction of medical ethics and style. Establish and practice a correct view of performance, adhere to Party building leadership, moral education, strict management and sincere care, create a clean and upright atmosphere in the industry, and polish the golden business card of the profession.

6. Earnestly strengthen the guidance of public opinion. Strengthen the sense of responsibility, actively and steadily respond to online public opinion with attitude, action and results. Regulate the publicity activities of medical personnel on Internet platforms.

7. Continuously strengthen the prevention and control of major diseases. Strengthen the monitoring, early warning and emergency response of key infectious diseases, improve the ability of infectious disease prevention and control in port cities and high-risk areas, and increase the influenza vaccination rate and the immune level of key populations. Strengthen the joint prevention, treatment and management of multiple diseases, and control the harm of chronic diseases.

8. Earnestly implement the fertility support policies. Optimize fertility support policies and incentive measures, promote a positive attitude towards marriage and childbirth, comprehensively promote the integrated development of affordable childcare and nursery-kindergarten services, issue childcare subsidies, optimize maternal and child services, and strive to stabilize the scale of new births.

9. Actively promote the all-round development of traditional Chinese medicine services. Give full play to the role of traditional Chinese medicine in prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, innovation and talent training.

10. Vigorously develop new quality productive forces in health. Strengthen scientific and technological innovation in health, promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements, promote digital and intelligent empowerment, and improve the mechanism for training, encouraging and evaluating scientific research talents.

11. Further investigate and resolve potential risks and hazards. Do a good job in production safety, stability maintenance, petition handling and confidentiality, and actively help expand high-level opening-up to the outside world.

Source: Official Website of the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China