China's Fight for Clean Air and Human Health

In March 2018, the 13th National People's Congress of China strategically designed three major national tasks, mitigation of social and financial risk, precise poverty relief, and pollution control. Two top national pollution control priorities are reducing air pollution and preventing cancer and other diseases. In China, the recent cancer statistics data show that the number of new cancer cases continued to increase from 2000 to 2011, wherein, lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality for both males and females in China. China adds a significant portion of the global cases of cancer and premature death due to air pollution. Faced with the great challenges of air pollution and human health issues, the government, industry, researchers, and other stakeholders have implemented a series of measures in recent years, e.g., banning coal and biomass burning, and promoting renewable energy applications. Monitoring data show that the PM_2.5 concentrations in many regions have continuously declined in recent years.