A medical worker collects a sample from a resident at a nucleic acid testing site in Zhenhai district in Ningbo, Zhejiang province on Dec 6, 2021. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province was recently honored as a national demonstration city for public health safeguards.

The city was conferred the honorary title after it was ranked eighth among prefecture-level cities and above in a national assessment.

The city's main health indicators were deemed to have reached the level of middle- and high-income countries in the world.

The average life expectancy of household-registered residents in Ningbo reached 81.94 years in 2020, attaining the level of advanced countries and an increase of 2.51 years compared with 2010.

Ningbo has also been included in the national pilot program for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer and become the first city in China to launch city-wide health management for the elderly who are at high risk of falls and osteoporosis.

In addition, efforts have been made by the city to improve health services by leveraging digital technologies.

As of the end of 2021, home nursing services had been provided more than 21,000 times in Ningbo via online healthcare institutions, accounting for 60 percent of Zhejiang's total.

Three hospitals in the city made the top 100 list for the latest national performance assessment of tertiary public hospitals.