Epidemiology of Major Diseases and Challenges in China

With urbanization, industrialization, and economic growth over the past decades, China has seen rapid and profound health and epidemiological transitions. Even though there has been a tremendous progress in public health, China is still facing a complex situation where multiple disease threats coexist and multiple health-influencing factors are intertwined. The challenges in the field of public health mainly include: (1) demographic changes: aging population and the decline of demographic dividend which is manifested by a decline in the size of the working-age population and an increase in the total dependency ratio; (2) double disease burden brought about by the changing disease spectrum: the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the health threats posed by both emerging and old infectious diseases; (3) unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, poor dietary habits, and others leading to overweight and obesity; (4) adverse environmental effects of industrialization and urbanization; and (5) health inequity. China is also facing some challenges in epidemiological research methods and research fields, and the construction of high-quality large population-based cohort studies is considered an important point. In China, promoting the application of big data in medicine has become a national priority. Even though several initiatives to promote the application of big data in medical and health research have been started by the government and researchers, there are still some challenges remained to be addressed in the future.