人类对河流不合理的开发利用，能够导致河流生态环境及其结构功能的破坏，进一步威胁到人类社会的可持续发展。河流健康问题成为人类生存与可持续发展面临的重要问题。如何有效对河流健康开展评价与管理，成为水资源可持续利用和环境保护与管理的重要课题，对人与自然的和谐发展具有重要的意义。本文初步探讨了河流健康的概念、定义和内涵，概括了国内外河流健康的评价方法及国内外研究发展的状况。针对我国河流健康的发展现状，提出了一些评述和建议，认为河流健康涉及的要素比较多，也十分重要，尤其是生态环境监测与质量评价及其联系的生态水文学和水系统理论研究，今后应该开展长期的河流监控计划并建立全国性的河流健康评价的指南。

The long-time inappropriate exploitation of river resources has led to the damages of river ecosystem and structural dysfunction, threatening the sustainable development of society as a whole. The river health issues have emerged as a result. How to carry out river health assessment and river management is vital to the development of harmonious relationship between nature and human being. This review has discussed the connotation of river heath and summarized various methods of evaluating river health at home and abroad. Meanwhile, in view of the status of river health assessment in our country, some suggestions have been put forward that river monitoring plan should be carried out and nationwide river health assessment guidelines should be established in the future.