Ma Xiaowei, Director of the National Health Commission, wrote an article in People's Daily: Medical Aid to Foreign Countries Helps Build a Community of Human Health | Medical Aid to Foreign Countries | Medical Care

The Chinese people love peace and cherish life, and foreign medical aid is a vivid manifestation. Sending medical teams to developing countries is a great undertaking personally initiated by the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. It is a socialist aid method with Chinese characteristics and a golden signboard for China's international cooperation and foreign exchanges. It has made important contributions to promoting the noble cause of human peace and development and has won widespread praise from the international community.

60 years of glorious achievements in foreign medical aid work

In 1963, at the invitation of the newly independent Algerian government, China sent its first medical team abroad, marking the official start of organized, large-scale, and sustained foreign medical assistance provided by the Chinese government. In the 1960s and 1970s, in order to support the anti colonial struggle of developing countries, expand China's diplomatic space, and break Western blockades, China gradually provided medical and health assistance to African and Asian countries that had gained national independence and liberation and lacked medical treatment. This was a foreign aid guided by the spirit of internationalism. As the good reputation of the Chinese medical team spreads widely, more and more newly independent developing countries are requesting China to send medical teams, and the scale of China's foreign medical aid is rapidly expanding. In 1971, China regained its legitimate seat in the United Nations, and all 12 African countries that had received assistance from the Chinese medical team were among the sponsors. As of the end of 1978, China had dispatched medical teams to more than 30 Asian and African countries and assisted in the construction of more than 20 hospitals and health centers.

Since the reform and opening up, China's foreign aid work has gradually clarified the basic positioning of mutual assistance among developing countries under the framework of South South cooperation, and further proposed the four principles of "equality and mutual benefit, emphasis on practical results, diversity in forms, and common development". The scope of deployment of the Chinese medical team has been further expanded, and the scope and content of assistance have been continuously enriched, promoting the development of the health system and the improvement of medical and health service capabilities in recipient countries. At the same time, assisting Chinese pharmaceutical factories in introducing domestically produced drugs into the markets of recipient countries has driven commercial exchanges. As of the end of 2012, China had dispatched medical teams to 66 countries and regions, and the number of medical and health facilities built with assistance had increased to 80.

In 2018, the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation announced the implementation of health action; In 2020, at the opening ceremony of the 73rd World Health Assembly video conference, it was announced to establish a mechanism for cooperation between China and Africa's counterpart hospitals and other foreign medical aid measures; In 2021, at the opening ceremony of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation, it was announced that the "Health and Health Project" would be listed as the top nine projects of China Africa cooperation. Professor Peng Liyuan attended the AIDS prevention and control advocacy activities in China and Africa, which was widely praised by foreign leaders and the public. China is more proactive in assuming the responsibility of a major country, providing medical assistance to developing countries to the best of its ability, with more institutionalized cooperation, faster growth in investment scale, more diverse participants, richer cooperation content, and more diverse channels.

Over the past 60 years, China has dispatched a total of 30000 medical team members to 76 countries and regions, assisted in the construction of more than 130 medical and health facilities, and treated 290 million patients. This has not only saved countless lives, greatly improved the medical technology level of recipient countries, but also trained more than 100000 medical personnel, leaving behind a "medical team that cannot be taken away.". More than 50 team members sacrificed themselves in a foreign country, and over 2000 people were awarded national honors by the recipient country. We have established corresponding cooperation with 46 hospitals in 41 countries and regions, and jointly built 25 clinical key specialty centers to fill thousands of technological gaps. During the COVID-19, China launched the largest global emergency humanitarian action since the founding of New China, sent 38 anti epidemic expert groups to 34 countries, and provided more than 2.2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations. China's foreign medical aid has shifted from a "blood transfusion" aid to a sustainable "hematopoietic" aid, gradually forming a comprehensive and three-dimensional pattern based on medical teams, driven by both clinical medicine and public health, with innovative projects, medical supplies, capacity building, personnel and technology exchanges blooming at multiple points.

China is the only country in the world that has long dispatched medical teams on a large scale to other developing countries without compensation, setting an example in the history of human medical and health cooperation. The dispatch of Chinese medical aid teams to foreign countries is one of the longest lasting, largest in scale, and most effective aid projects in China, and is highly welcomed by the governments and people of recipient countries. The medical aid work in foreign countries has made important contributions to enhancing the friendship between our country and the people of developing countries, promoting friendly cooperation, and advancing the noble cause of human peace and development. It has played an irreplaceable and important role in striving for a favorable international environment for our country.

Accurately understanding the opportunities and challenges of foreign medical assistance in the new era and new journey

Currently, the overlapping of the century long changes and the century long pandemic has had a profound impact on global health security, human health and well-being, and economic and social development. The complex changes in the international situation and external development environment have brought new opportunities and challenges to foreign medical aid work.

In the new era and new journey, foreign medical assistance has ushered in important development opportunities. The centralized and unified leadership of the Party provides a strong guarantee for the high-quality development of foreign medical work. The historic leap in China's economic strength provides a solid material foundation for promoting foreign medical work. The increasing level of medical technology and health industry development has laid a technical foundation for carrying out foreign medical work. China's medical technology experience has comparative advantages in applicability and demonstration in developing countries.

At the same time, it should be noted that China's foreign aid medical work is facing many challenges. Currently, the global health governance system is accelerating its reshaping, and foreign medical aid is becoming an important front in the game of major powers. The difficulty of coordinating health development cooperation is increasing. With the global development deficit highlighted and China's comprehensive national strength reaching a new level, the desire and expectation of developing countries to cooperate with China in health development have increased. The strategic planning and overall coordination of China's aid to foreign medical care still need to be further strengthened, and the investment of funds, personnel and other resources is not enough to match China's comprehensive national strength and international status. The comprehensive effects of some projects need to be further played out and their sustainability needs to be strengthened. These all pose higher requirements for China's foreign medical aid work.

Actively building a new pattern of foreign medical aid work

In today's world, the historical trend of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win is unstoppable. Maintaining global health security, promoting global health development, and promoting sustainable economic and social development are the common pursuit of countries around the world. We must actively implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, strengthen top-level design, overall coordination, and improve quality and efficiency, actively build a new pattern of medical aid to foreign countries, better serve the construction of a human health community, help maintain the health and well-being of the people of developing countries, and jointly safeguard a better future for human health.

Promote the improvement of a multi-party collaborative foreign medical management system. Adhere to a high positioning, focus on the long-term, and cooperate with multiple departments to form an optimized, collaborative, and efficient management system. Fully gather resources from government, industry, society, and other parties, encourage more forces to participate in foreign medical tasks, enrich foreign medical resources, enrich work methods, create a number of high-quality projects, promote the landing of a number of major projects, promote the export of medical equipment in China, and promote China's technology, standards, and other aspects to become international standards.

Promote the construction of a comprehensive and three-dimensional foreign aid medical model. Promote the reform of the dispatch mode of Chinese medical teams, optimize the layout of forces, adhere to the combination of medical services and technical assistance, the combination of "going out" and "inviting in", the combination of long-term medical teams and short-term expert groups, and the combination of modern medicine and traditional medicine. Innovate aid models, further promote the transformation of single medical aid into three-dimensional health aid including public health, traditional medicine, etc., support the construction of African disease control centers, promote the integration of medical and prevention, and further deepen the exchange and cooperation of traditional Chinese medicine with foreign countries. Deepen trilateral cooperation with international organizations such as the World Health Organization and other international development partners, and include small and beautiful projects such as "Bright Journey", "Love Journey", and "Smiling Journey" in the global development project library.

Comprehensively strengthen the construction of foreign medical aid teams. Strengthen the construction of talent teams such as health diplomats, foreign aid medical teams, public health experts, international staff, and global health reserve teams, and cultivate leading talents in foreign aid medical care. Strengthen the staffing and capacity building of management personnel, and build a professional management team with high political quality and strong business capabilities. Emphasis is placed on cultivating high-end medical talents, mainly outstanding medical students from China. Improve investment and support mechanisms, continuously improve work and living benefits, and enhance the attractiveness of foreign medical assistance.

The journey of the great road is for the benefit of the world. The responsibility and mission of medical aid to foreign countries are significant and glorious.