Comparing the United States' and China's Shifting Health Challenges.

The United States and China both face the question of how to prioritize programmatic resources and policy interventions to make the greatest impact on the health of their populations. I discuss strengths and limitations of the expert panel survey used by Wu et al. in "The 20 Most Important and Most Preventable Health Problems of China: Opinions From Chinese Experts Using a Modified Delphi Process," in this issue of AJPH. I juxtapose this method with several US approaches to priority setting at the federal, state, and county levels and suggest steps for moving from research to action.