Cooperating globally to respond to health crisis and disease outbreaks

China is now a world leader in disease surveillance and outbreak control, based on a health system that can identify, contain and prevent the escalation into pandemics and other crises.  WHO and China have continued to expand our cooperation globally to respond to international outbreaks or crises, including the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak.  More recently and with financial support from China’s South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCAF), WHO and China have worked together to respond to health crises in Syria and its surrounding countries, and in Yemen.  China has also continued in 2018 and again in 2019 to support WHO’s work to respond to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to build detection and control capacities in neighbouring countries.

In 2017 WHO and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries, during the visit of President Xi Jinping to WHO headquarters in Geneva.  This agreement was the starting point for a new kind of WHO-China relationship focusing on global health, and was followed that year by an Implementation Agreement with China’s National Health Commission. “China’s own health reforms, which have expanded health insurance to more than 95% of its immense population, serve as a model to others for universal health coverage, a bulwark against health emergencies, and a reminder that transformations can be far-reaching,” said Dr Tedros.

Our partnership with China continues to grow in to additional priority areas – including control of malaria and schistosomiasis, health workforce training, local production of medicines, and health systems development to support universal health coverage.  These are just a few of the ways that we are working together to build a world that is healthier, fairer and safer.