P4H academic member Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, China, held a subforum on 13 November 2024 as part of the Eighth International Forum on the Belt and Road Initiative & Global Governance. The P4H Coordination Desk attended the subforum and the field visit that followed to Yuhuan county.
Fudan University School of Public Health (FUSPH) in Shanghai, China, an academic member of the P4H Network since 2018, organized a subforum on social health protection (SHP) on 13 November 2024, which took place during its Eighth International Forum on the Belt and Road Initiative & Global Governance. The focus was on reducing health disparities from a health protection approach. The P4H Coordination Desk was invited by FUSPH to present its global experience of successful SHP reforms and the P4H Network’s approach to SHP and health financing (HF).
Other speakers presented reforms in Australia, China, Egypt, Mongolia, Singapore, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe. During the Q&A session, participants raised many relevant questions about the role of external funding in HF systems, the design of benefits packages under severe financial constraints, the best ways to protect vulnerable households, the impact of digital technologies in improving HF systems and the role of China in ongoing international cooperation.
After the subforum, FUSPH held a meeting of P4H’s academic constituency, which Australian National University (ANU) chaired. In addition to ANU, three of the five other P4H academic members attended: Fudan University School of Public Health, the Center for Healthcare Quality Assessment and Control of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, and Seoul University Graduate School of Public Health. The priorities of the P4H academic members were discussed, and FUSPH was selected to become the new chair of the P4H academic constituency, effective after the next meeting of the P4H Steering Group. The Deputy Dean of FUSPH Yingyao Chen and P4H Country Focal Person (P4H-CFP) for China Jiayan Huang, an appointed P4H-CFP, congratulated the participants and committed to actively chairing the P4H academic constituency.
Over the following two days (14–15 November), all speakers benefited from a field visit to Yuhuan county organized by FUSPH. The team visited a health centre, the local branch of China Healthcare Security (national health insurance), a village-level health post and a reference hospital. The focus of the field visit was to observe the deployment of a comprehensive integrated digital solution among providers, doctors, and patients, which affords significant improvements in health promotion, early disease detection and precise disease management.
