The government has finalized a new mid-to-long-term plan that sets the direction of national health policy for the next five years. It broadened the policy scope from youth mental health to chronic diseases and the climate crisis, placing emphasis on narrowing the widening health gap.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 27th that it convened the National Health Promotion Policy Deliberation Committee and reviewed and approved the Sixth National Health Promotion Comprehensive Plan (2026–2030).
The National Health Promotion Comprehensive Plan is a pan-government health policy roadmap established every 10 years and supplemented every five years under the National Health Promotion Act. The sixth plan serves as a supplement to the fifth plan established in 2021, reviewing policy outcomes over the past five years and reflecting changing conditions such as an aging population and the climate crisis.
According to the ministry, Korea's healthy life expectancy fell to 69.9 years in 2022, down 0.5 years from 70.4 years in 2018. The gap with life expectancy also widened over the same period from 12.3 years to 12.8 years.
The healthy life expectancy gap by income level also widened to 8.4 years. While about half of the 64 headline indicators in the fifth plan improved, 25% of the indicators, including the suicide mortality rate and the prevalence of diabetes and obesity, worsened.
Aiming for "a society where everyone enjoys health throughout life," the sixth plan separates youth health as a distinct priority task. It will expand mental health screenings and initial treatment cost support and provide one-on-one online counseling for isolated and reclusive youth.
For vulnerable groups such as youths preparing for independence and youths providing family care, the government will support tailored health management services, and it plans to strengthen the prevention of chronic diseases through expanding community sports facilities and a program that offers incentives for healthy living practices.
To address the growing burden of chronic diseases due to aging, the government will also establish a new integrated management system. It will move beyond the existing focus on hypertension and diabetes to include a wider range of chronic diseases and expand a community-integrated management model based on primary care. It will also strengthen scientific policy evidence by linking National Health Insurance big data with the Community Health Survey.
The plan newly introduces a "climate crisis response health management" division. It envisions expanding the response beyond climate disasters such as heat waves and cold spells to include infectious diseases, chronic diseases and mental health. Along with building an emergency care system for vulnerable groups, it will strengthen a surveillance system for climate-related health impacts and expand training for response personnel and the public.
To reduce health disparities, the government will significantly reinforce its equity management system. It will designate representative equity tasks for each priority item and focus on evaluating their implementation, expanding related indicators from the current 176 to 225. Through detailed data analysis by income, gender and region, the government plans to enable more precise policy design.
Going forward, each ministry will draw up annual action plans, and the government will link them with local government health policies to enhance the plan's effectiveness.
Lee Hyeong-hun, the second vice minister and chairperson of the National Health Promotion Policy Deliberation Committee, who presided over the meeting, said, "Keeping pace with changing policy conditions such as climate crisis response, chronic disease management and youth health, we have identified new tasks and developed task management strategies to effectively address health disparities," adding, "We will work together with each ministry and local governments to implement the sixth plan without a hitch so that the public can enjoy a healthier life than today."