The river breeds life，and the healthy state of the river is very important for economic and social development and people’s life and health protection. In recent years，China has implemented such actions and initiatives as “protecting mother river”，“water pollution prevention and control action” and “Yellow River Protection”，which have achieved initial results in maintaining river health. Different countries have different measures of river health. A river cannot be called a healthy river when a river’s index exceeds or is below the allowable range. From the angle of ecology，physical chemistry，hydrology and so on，the foreign country sets the standard to measure the healthy river. In the United States，Australia，Britain and South Africa，the comprehensive evaluation methods of physical chemistry and ecology were adopted to evaluate river health from hydrology and water resources，physical and chemical parameters，water biological community and so on. The comprehensive analysis shows that our country should strengthen the theory research of river health management，innovate the application research of river health management，enrich the strategy of river health management.