Society and Life

Partners in healthcare

By Michael O'Leary (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-01 10:09

China already has a robust healthcare system, so the World Health Organization (WHO) is targeting its work to build technical capacity and share international best practices in specific areas where there may be gaps.

The WHO and China's Ministry of Health have launched a series of initiatives focusing on healthcare reform, environmental health, food safety, natural disaster response, infectious and chronic diseases, among other public health priorities since 2010.

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 learned. From 2010 to 2012, 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 the 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 and explore malaria elimination in China. There are also projects on early warning for infectious diseases and training for city-level emergency health officials to implement the International Health Regulations.

With economic development, urbanization, changing lifestyles and an aging population, the disease burden has shifted toward non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cancer, diabetes and obesity. This is one area we need to address together.

Work will be done to examine risk factors such as tobacco use, diet in Ningxia, and using innovative health education to prevent chronic diseases in rural Guizhou. There will also be interventions on the link between aging, 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.

Healthcare reform is among the top priorities of the Ministry of Health, and the 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.

Costing nearly $6 million, these initiatives are funded by the WHO's regular budget provided by member states and will be implemented by central and local-level agencies or institutes.

Michael O'Leary is the World Health Organization's representative in China.

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page9)