3 March 2010, Beijing – The World Health Organization and China's Ministry of Health have launched a series of initiatives focusing on health care reform, environmental health, food safety, natural disaster response, infectious and chronic diseases, among other public health priorities over the next two years.
 
Today's launch of the WHO-MOH biennium programme for 2010-11 kicks off a total of 75 health initiatives in over 20 provinces and regions of mainland China. The projects were developed jointly, with inputs from the Ministry of Health and local-level institutes, based on the existing WHO-China Country Cooperation Strategy 2008-2013.
 
"China already has a robust health care system, so WHO is targeting our work to build technical capacity and share international best practices in specific areas where there may be gaps," said Dr Michael O'Leary, WHO's Representative in China.
 
Gaps are often exacerbated during health emergencies such as natural disasters. The Wenchuan earthquake of May 2008 reminded the world of the importance of safe hospitals, and lessons are still being learnt. Over the next two years, WHO will support projects to study the impact of the earthquake on infectious diseases, demonstrate post-earthquake management of mental trauma, strengthen emergency preparedness and response, and train nurses in emergency health education. 
 
Communicable diseases like pandemic H1N1 are another potential cause of health emergencies. Initiatives in this field seek to prevent dengue fever in Hainan, scale up HIV/AIDS interventions in Xinjiang, explore malaria elimination in China, and follow up on last year's international conference on drug-resistant tuberculosis through preventive actions and information management. There are also projects on early warning for infectious diseases and training for city-level emergency health officials to implement the International Health Regulations.
 
The new biennium programme also reflects China's changing health profile. "With economic development, urbanization, changing lifestyles and an ageing population, the disease burden has shifted towards non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cancers, diabetes and obesity. This is one area we need to address together," said Dr O'Leary.
 
Work will be done to examine risk factors such as tobacco use, diets in Ningxia, and using innovative health education to prevent chronic diseases in rural Guizhou. There will also be interventions on the link between ageing, health equity and social determinants in Jiangsu.
 
Food safety is another area of focus, with surveillance and risk assessments to be conducted in Shandong and Guangxi. Environmental health is equally important, with projects ranging from arsenic poisoning interventions in Inner Mongolia to water quality surveillance in rural China, and research on the health risks and exposure limits of low frequency electromagnetic fields in Shanghai.
 
Health care reform is among the top priorities of the Ministry of Health, and WHO is working to support the three-year pilot phase with a pilot project in Qinghai. Studies will also be done on the legislation and cost-effectiveness of essential public health services, on public hospital regulation and mechanisms, and on third-party mediation for medical disputes. To reflect the central role of medicines in the reform plan, there will be initiatives to evaluate essential drugs, provide technical support for drug safety, and to compare laws and regulations in China and the United States for risk control of post-marketed drugs.
 
Over the next two years, WHO will also facilitate international health training and support a study on how Africa can benefit from the success of China's public health care system.
 
Costing nearly US$6 million, these initiatives are funded by WHO's regular budget provided by member states and will be implemented by central and local-level agencies or institutes.
 
In addition, WHO is continually mobilising extra-budgetary funds and expects to provide more than US$27 million overall for China's health care initiatives over the 2010-11 period. Extra-budget projects include joint UN projects on maternal and child health, nutrition and food safety; a pilot project in Shandong province involving health systems and non-communicable diseases; as well as projects to strengthen laboratory capacity and to study severe cases among pandemic H1N1 patients. Donors range from multilateral agencies and foundations such as the Gates Foundation and Bloomberg, to countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
 
The World Health Organization has been working in mainland China since 1981, providing evidence-based and expert technical advice to the Chinese government. Currently, the agency has over 60 staff members based in Beijing.
 
For the full report of the WHO-China Country Cooperation Strategy 2008-2013, click here http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/BB787F03-A760-4F01-908E-D17D8DB75178/0/CCS_EN.pdf
 
For more information, please contact:
 
Vivian Tan
Communications Officer
WHO China
Tel: +86 10 6532-7191
Fax: +86 10 6532-2359
Email: tanv@wpro.who.int