China's innovations in health and cooperative healthcare decades ago showed the world that it was possible to improve healthcare and greatly increase life expectancy for hundreds of millions of people. As a result, more people in China than ever before received access to quality, affordable healthcare. Child and maternal mortality and rates of infectious disease plunged, and the health and life expectancy of the Chinese people improved remarkably.

In 2009, China embarked on a new phase of healthcare reform. It made major investments in health infrastructure, and health insurance coverage today is close to universal. A national essential medicine system is now in place, and out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for patients have come down by almost half, from 60 percent to 32 percent.

Despite this success, China now faces new challenges, which mirror those in many high-income economies. An estimated 140 million Chinese are above 65 years of age, and their number is projected to grow to 230 million by 2030. Cancer, diabetes, heart diseases and other non-communicable and chronic diseases account for more than 80 percent of the total 10.3 million deaths every year.