By He Jiayu

On 20 May, local time in Geneva, during the 79th World Health Assembly, a side event themed ‘Artificial Intelligence Empowering the Development of the Long-Term Care System: Supporting High-Quality and Sustainable Care Through Long-Term Care Insurance’ attracted a lot of attention. Nantong, as the birthplace of long-term care insurance, was invited to attend. It is also the only city from China that participated.

In 2015, Nantong took the lead in China by establishing the ‘sixth insurance’ long-term care insurance system, which was piloted in the urban area from 1 January 2016, and now covers 7.2 million urban and rural insured residents. Nationwide, China launched pilot programs for the long-term care insurance system in 2016, and in March this year, it has entered a new stage of full institutional development.