Strengthening the construction and application of biomedical big data to promote the implementation of the Healthy China Initiative

The Chinese government has always prioritized the rights and interests of people, continuously striving to improve their level of health. In 2017, the "Healthy China Initiative" was clearly defined as a national strategy. In 2019, the "Opinions of the State Council on Implementing the Healthy China Action" and the "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" clearly defined the overall goals of the Healthy China Initiative and established key directions and tasks. While vigorously promoting the Healthy China Initiative, China's biomedical big data shows an explosive growth trend and has become an essential fundamental strategic resource for driving the comprehensive and in-depth implementation of the Healthy China Initiative. However, China still needs to improve its construction of biomedical big data resources, data services, data sharing, innovative applications, and other aspects. There is an urgent need to strengthen the development and application of biomedical big data to give full play to its supporting role in the Healthy China Initiative. By reviewing the development status of health strategy and biomedical big data in China and elsewhere, this study found that many countries have introduced national health strategies or actions to improve residents' health status. At the same time, domestic and international efforts are continuously strengthening the integration and sharing of biomedical scientific data resources and the construction of data platforms. Global biomedical big data is accumulating rapidly, providing a solid data foundation for countries' health strategies to move forward in depth. With the implementation of the Healthy China Initiative, China's health status has made remarkable achievements, with a continuous increase in per capita life expectancy and a continuous decrease in the infant and child mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, and maternal mortality rate. China's medical and health service system is constantly improving, and service accessibility continues to improve. At the same time, China has regarded biomedical big data as an essential strategic resource and a prerequisite for implementing the Healthy China Initiative, and it attaches great importance to developing and applying biomedical big data. In recent years, biomedical big data has played a crucial role in medical and health technology innovation, public health event response, medical and health service reform, and resident health services. However, the development and application of biomedical big data still face the following problems: (1) Biomedical big data resources are rich, but integration and utilization still need to be improved. (2) The foundation of the biomedical big data platform is weak, and the system functions still need to be improved. (3) The loss of biomedical big data overseas endangers national security. (4) Biomedical big data security and privacy protection are challenging to balance with data-sharing applications. (5) Standards for biomedical big data are lacking, and the application of such standards needs to be improved. (6) There needs to be more composite data talent. Finally, this study proposes to strengthen the development and application of biomedical big data to promote the implementation of the Healthy China Initiative as follows: (1) Promote the transformation of business data to scientific data, and improve the construction of biomedical data resources. (2) Increase investment in data center construction, and improve the construction of research data centers. (3) Innovate the system and mechanism of biomedical big data construction to prevent data loss overseas. (4) Strengthen the data security system and technological breakthroughs, and promote the sharing of biomedical data security. (5) Improve biomedical data standards and norms, and strengthen the application of such standards and norms. (6) Increase the cultivation of interdisciplinary talent in biomedical data.