Good health is a prerequisite for promoting all-round development of the person. And it is a common pursuit of human societies to improve people's health and ensure their right to medical care.For China, a large developing country, medical and healthcare is of vital importance to its population of over 1.3 billion, and is a major issue concerning its people's well being. China pays great attention to protecting and improving its people's health. As the Constitution stipulates, "The state develops medical and health services, promotes modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine..., all for the protection of the people's health." Based on this constitutional stipulation, China has put in place a complete system of lawsand regulations concerning medical and health services. Over the years, Chinahas worked hard to develop its medical and health services with Chinese characteristics in accordance with the policy of "making rural areas the focus of our work, putting disease prevention first, supporting both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, relying on science, technology and education, and mobilizing the whole of society to join the efforts, improving the people's health and serving socialist modernization." Thanks to unremitting efforts that have been made, medical and healthcare systems covering both urban and rural residents have taken shape, the capabilities of disease prevention and control have been enhanced,the coverage of medical insurance has expanded, continuous progress has been made in medical science and technology, and the people's health has been remarkably improved.
With the quickened pace of the country's industrialization and urbanization, as well as its increasingly aging population,the Chinese people are facing the dual health threats of infectious and chronic diseases, and the public needs better medical and health services. In the mean time, problems still exist regarding China's health resources, especially the shortage of high-quality resources and the unbalanced distribution of those resources. China has arduous tasks ahead for reforming and developing its medical and health services.