Healthy life expectancy of 71 targeted

SHANGHAI aims to achieve a healthy life expectancy of over 71 by 2025, higher than the national index of 68.7 announced in 2019, the city’s health authorities said yesterday.

A healthy life expectancy, according to the World Health Organization, refers to the average number of years that a person can live in a healthy condition, and is an important indicator of a population’s health.

The city also set goals for the next four years in improving residents’ health literacy, the number of people who regularly take exercise, regulation of smoking by adults, the ratio of residents’ reaching physical standards, the quality of air and environment, the recycling and use of household garbage, treatment of domestic wastewater in rural areas, and the control of vector density, Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Health Commission, told reporters.

“In order to achieve the goals, we threw in a large amount of manpower and money, set up a system with social involvement and made efforts in the promotion of public health awareness,” Wu said.

The concept that the individual is the first person responsible for their own health was also strengthened, Wu added, and the city will keep working on the control of air pollution and guaranteeing safe drinking water.

Health facilities such as fitness pavements and urban greenways alongside Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River will also be improved.

People should maintain good health habits during the summer.