Building a global community of health

China will continue to work with the World Health Organization to build a global community of health for all while boosting access to equal and accessible medical services for its people this year, a senior health official said on Thursday.

Li Bin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission, said that China has been cooperating closely with the WHO for years and their bonds have become even tighter during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of China dispatching its first medical aid team abroad, according to Li. As of recently, a total of 30,000 Chinese foreign medical aid workers have been sent to 76 countries and regions and offered 290 million consultations.

"China will participate in global health governance more proactively and unite with the WHO to advance health support for humankind," he said during an event held in Beijing ahead of this year's World Health Day, which is celebrated every year on April 7 to mark the anniversary of the founding of the WHO in 1948.

China has also increased the average life expectancy of its people from 35 years old around 1949 to 78.2 in 2021, and has eradicated the spread of some contagious diseases including smallpox, polio and malaria.

The COVID-19 death rate in China is among the lowest across the globe as the highly populous country has created a miracle in human history by successfully pulling through a pandemic, he said, adding that China has also significantly improved healthcare services at grassroots level.

This year, Li said that more efforts will be made to promote coordinated development of medical services and direct high quality medical resources to community level.

"We will set up a new batch of national and regional medical centers, ramp up healthcare services in rural areas…strengthen grassroots health management, promote triaged medical procedures…so as to enable our people to access equitable, accessible, systematic and continuous healthcare services," he said.

Chen Guangqiang, an intensive care unit doctor at Beijing Tiantan Hospital who was sent to work in Tibet autonomous region as a medical aid worker, and Yang Fang, a rural doctor from Hubei province, also shared their experiences during the event.