China-US Track II Dialogue on Healthcare Successfully Held
Jul 25-2023
The National School of Development (NSD) and the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) held the 8th round of China-US Track II Dialogue on Healthcare at Duke University from July 10 to 11, 2023. It was participated by 22 Chinese and American top experts in the fields of healthcare policy research and practices. They had in-depth talks on major issues and solutions in healthcare, with the aim of strengthening the two countries’ capabilities and cooperation in addressing global healthcare challenges and contributing to the formation of a healthcare community with a shared future for mankind.
As an auxiliary event of the humanities exchange mechanism between the two countries, the dialogue featured an agenda that included healthcare innovation and regulatory coordination, development of more resilient and sustainable healthcare systems, and ways to better cope with major global public healthcare crisis in future. Based on the agenda, the experts at the dialogue explored solutions and called on all countries, including China and the US, to join hands in tackling global healthcare challenges.
The dialogue opened with the speeches by Mr. Stephen Orlins, American convener of the dialogue and President of NSUSCR; and Mr. Liu Guoen, Chinese convener of the dialogue, NSD Changjiang Distinguished Professor, and Dean of PKU Institute for Global Health and Development.
The first section of dialogue, focusing on healthcare innovation and regulatory coordination, was hosted by Prof. Mark McClellan, Margolis Professor of Healthcare Policy at Duke University. Mr. David Rind, CEO of ICER; and Mr. Yu Xuefeng, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of CanSinoBIO, gave the lead-in speeches. In the discussions, the Chinese and American experts unanimously stressed the imperative to use and share high-quality real-world statistics to drive research, so as to better deal with common challenges such as rare diseases, dementia, and cancer.
In the second section ‘building more resilient and sustainable healthcare service system’, the experts had profound exchanges on chronic disease strategies, as well as environment and healthcare sustainability. Mr. Gu Dongfeng, member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vice President of Southern University of Science and Technology, and professor at Peking Union Medical College, hosted the discussions. The lead-in speeches were made by Mr. Wang Tao, Changjiang Scholar at PKU Third Hospital and Professor of Nephrology; and Mr. Lawrence D. Brown, professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The ensuing dialogue emphasized that though China and US have differences in their healthcare systems, they are facing some common challenges, not least the additional burdens to be brought by chronic diseases as a result of expanding populations. Consequently, they should both give priority to such issues as healthcare shortfall, medicine pricing, and healthcare financing.
In the third part centering on future pandemics and global healthcare emergencies, Mr. Chen Xi, Professor of Global Health Policy and Economics at Yale University, hosted the discussions. Mr. Carlos del Rio, Executive Deputy Dean of Emory School of Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology; and Xiao Ruiping, Dean of PKU College of Future Technology and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, gave the lead-in speeches. The exchange of ideas focused on how to improve cooperation and communications between countries and enhance their mutual trust in the fight against global public healthcare challenges. Also in the spotlight is the critical importance of data sharing and collaboration as well as public healthcare measures in social and political contexts when it comes to preventing and predicting global healthcare emergencies in the future.
Following the dialogue, the Chinese delegation also paid visits to and held talks with various US agencies, research institutes, and journals.
Since its launch by the NSD and the NCUSCR in 2017, the China-US Track II Dialogue on Healthcare has taken place in China and the US alternately, with each round ending in a consensus report which is submitted to policy-making departments of the two countries.
