10 May: Today the campus played host to many well-known scholars, policy makers and industry leaders from across the world who attended the Sino-UK Health Forum at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC).
Focusing on health and healthcare in China, the forum primarily discusses the prominent topic of China’s health care reforms.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of China’s national health care reforms. Over the decade, China has undergone a lot of social changes associated with the increasing challenges of coping with non-communicable diseases and an aging population. Apart from the achievements, whether the reforms will be able to close the gaps is a widely discussed issue.
Against this backdrop, the Forum scholars all work in various health related research areas, and are global experts from both developing and developed countries including Uganda, UK and US. Over the two-day conference, there will be 10 keynote speakers and 24 presenters sharing the latest research and best practices.
Opening session of the Sino-UK Health Forum
One keynote speaker, Xiaotao Jin is the former Vice Minister of the National Health Commission - a key player in China’s health care reform. Besides talking about his first-hand experience of China’s strategic priorities to improving public health, he also commented that the forum topics were progressively designed.
Xiaotao Jin said, “I’m pleased to see that the content of Sino-UK Health Forum is very much in line with the latest policy trends. Its agenda and topics will interest many healthcare managers, as it does to me. It demonstrates the forward thinking of the organisers.”
Speaking of Ningbo’s achievements in enhancing healthcare services, Feng Zheng from the Ningbo Health Committee said UNNC had played an instrumental role.
Feng Zheng said: “The communication and collaboration between Ningbo and Nottingham UK has been progressing, thanks to UNNC. I’ve personally led two delegations to visit our counterparts in Nottingham and signed several MOUs to seal cooperation between the health care industries of the two sides.”
The conference also brings together academics from other prestigious institutes including Peking University, Oxford University and University of Nottingham, as well as industry managers.
While extending his welcome to all guests, UNNC Provost Nick Miles also wished the conference a great success.
He said: “I hope this conference will inspire more ideas, forge more collaborations, and stimulate more discussions. We look forward to hosting you and your colleagues and encourage you to make the most of what our campus here and the conference have to offer.”
This two-day event is the inaugural conference of the Sino-UK Health Forum, co-hosted by the School of Economics and the Centre for Health Economics. It is aimed at establishing a platform where academia, government and industry can share ideas and stimulate dialogues on health related policy issues.
Published on 10 May 2019