Science & Technology on Public Health in China: A Roadmap to 2050

　　Public health is tightly related to the national economic development and social progress, and is an important base for a harmonic society. The rapid development in science and technology exerts an unprecedented influence upon the field of public health. Progress made in the life science allows traditional medicine to develop into biomedicines. In the 21st century, life science, material science, information science, cognition science, complexity science and so on will all be integrated to breed major scientific breakthrough, thus bringing about important changes in the field of public health.

　　As a country with the largest population, China will still emphasize “birth control” measures as its basic national population policy. In terms of birth control, the present contraception methods alone are not good enough. Thus, we have to strengthen the basic research on reproductive medicine and further improve China’s research system of reproductive science and reproductive health.

　　Properly, nutrition is one of the best strategies for guaranteeing human health and combating diseases. At present, excessive eating and deficient nutrition are two major issues concerning China’s public health. To confront this challenge, there is a need to strengthen the research in nutritional science. Furthermore, food safety becomes a serious issue, and the unsafe food is one of the major threats to the public health. There is a need to develop the appropriate technologies and platforms to allow for quick detection of poisonous and hazardous substances in food. By taking advantage of modern scientific technology and establishing a food safety database, these objectives can be accomplished.

　　Along with our socio-economic progress comes a growing ageing population. During the past 30 years, an epidemiological infectious disease model in Chinese society has been moved to a chronic disease model. Chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases have become the major threats to the Chinese people. It is imperative to strengthen prevention and control of such major chronic diseases by focusing on preemptive measures and relying on of medical model based on prevention, prediction and intervention.

　　Along with global economic integration and rapid social development, quickly increasing population flow has become a major character of contemporary society in the world. As China is a country with huge population and vast areas where local infectious diseases may occur continuously, biological safety has become an important component of the national safety, we have to set up and improve a mechanism for dealing with public health contingencies, and establish a biosafety network for surveillance and prevention of emerging infectious disease and recurrent infectious disease.

　　Modern social pressure and competition in Chinese society result in the increase of mental and psychological diseases. Furthermore, there is a dramatic increase in neurodegenerative diseases in the ageing society. There is a need to strengthen research in the area of brain cognitive, to understand the biological basis for morbidity of mental diseases, to perform early diagnosis and treatment collectively. This will reduce the morbidity in psychological and mental diseases among the Chinese people, increase scientific innovation capability, promote and maintain harmony between cognition and psychology.

　　R&D in the area of innovative pharma-science is very important for improving the capability of China’s pharmaceutical industry for the international competition, and is equally important for improving the health of the population in China. We have to push ahead with the development of China’s pharmaceutical industries in a relatively short period of time. While developing new synthetic drugs, we should better understand the potential properties and the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicines by applying new methods and technologies to the life science, and by integrating Chinese and Western medicines. We should prioritize the biomedical engineering as a new growth opportunity; promote the R&D on the products of the biomedical engineering. In addition, we should forge ahead the technologies of the biomedical engineering that integrates the theories and methods of engineering, biology and medicine.

　　Along with stem cell technology, regenerative medicine aims at curing major diseases through repairing, replacing and strengthening damaged, affected or defective tissues and organs in the human body. As the vital means and research core of the regenerative medicine, the stem cell research covers several fields of basic and clinical medicines. Along with development of stem cell technology, regenerative medicine, based on the repairing and regenerative capacity of the stem cell, is expected to become the third generation of the therapy method after drug therapy and operative therapy.

　　In summary, the mission of the S&T roadmap to address China’s public health is to establish a general health assurance system by 2050. The characteristic of this health assurance system is to focus on prevention and the control of major chronic diseases, and to transform the current medical model from reliance on disease treatment to reliance on prevention. The new model needs to integrate biology, environment, psychology and society. We need to establish a world-advanced scientific assurance system covering biological safety, food safety, and healthy lifestyle. This health assurance system will promote the physical health as well as mental health nationwide. We need to build up a modern medical R&D chain, including innovative pharma-science and manufacturing of advanced medical equipment; and make China a leader in the biomedical industry in the world.