<p>Over the past decade, substantial progress has been made in China in improving health-care infrastructure and enacting national policies focused on the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other non-communicable chronic diseases. Nevertheless, a considerable gap remains between the national goals for cardiovascular health and the burden of CVD in the Chinese population. The rapid advances in digital health-care platforms and the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across various health-care sectors underscore the potential for these innovative approaches to address existing challenges in CVD prevention. In this Review, we summarize the major challenges in implementing preventative strategies and highlight the core obstacles to achieving the national goals for cardiovascular health in China. Furthermore, we discuss the potential value of, and the challenges associated with, digital health-care and AI technology in the implementation of preventative strategies in China and other countries with similar needs.</p>