On Sept 6, the State Council issued a circular for a national action plan on disability prevention (2016-2020), in a bid to lower disability rates and risks.

Currently, there are more than 85 million disabled people across the country. The large number of disabled people is a huge burden on society, and many of the disabilities could have been prevented with proper measures.

To deal with the issue, the State Council made the national action plan, whose goal is to improve the nation’s disability prevention system, increase society’s awareness about preventing disabilities, and keeping the disability rate at a lower level than other countries at the same income level.

The action plan focuses on the following aspects:

To effectively prevent disabilities due to birth defects, efforts will be made to strengthen prenatal and pre-pregnancy checks and survey of newborns’ illnesses. Measures will also be taken to prevent infectious, endemic, chronic, and mental diseases that can lead to disabilities.

Strengthened efforts will be made in management of production safety, traffic safety, safety of agricultural products and food and drugs, water and air pollution, disaster prevention and relief, and accidental injuries to children and senior citizens.

To help disabled people improve their condition, efforts will be made to enhance rehabilitation services, advocate assistance devices for the disabled, such as hearing-aids and artificial limbs, and promote construction of accessibility facilities. Social capital will be guided to invest in such fields.

In addition, related laws will be further improved.