Nottingham China Health Institute

As China becomes increasingly affluent, there is a growing demand for quality and affordable healthcare and increasing challenges from the impact of long-term chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, and a rapidly ageing population. 

Our researchers at the University of Nottingham focus on transformative research that makes an impact on the health of patients and the public. 

We have world-leading expertise in a wide range of health research and practice, including evidence-based healthcare assessment, general practice training and practice, precision medicine and medical imaging, nursing education and training, mental health, hearing research, health economics, and new medical technologies.

At Ningbo, the Nottingham China Health Institute will focus on six broad areas. 

• Centre for Evidence Synthesis and GRADE
• Centre for Health Economics 
• Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Clinical Research Design 
• Healthcare Leadership, Management and Training
• Future Healthcare Technologies
• Global Knowledge Exchange and Training

The leading health issues in China are centred on non-communicable diseases. The most common causes of death in China are cancer, heart disease, stroke, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and diabetes. Among the cancers, the most common are lung, breast, stomach, oesophagus, liver and colorectal. Nearly half of all adults in China have hypertension and only a minority receive treatment. More than half of men in China smoke cigarettes and the prevalence of diabetes is 6% and rising.

China’s rapid economic development has led to the emergence of many excellent hospitals in leading cities, but in less advantaged, often rural areas access to healthcare services is inadequate. Along with rising non-communicable diseases throughout China, there is a pressing need for the healthcare system to provide cost effective, evidence-based healthcare to people in all areas of China.

Our vision for the Nottingham China Health Institute is to collaborate with the healthcare and public health bodies in China to accelerate the delivery of cost effective evidence-based healthcare. Working with our China partners we seek to make a difference to health and wellbeing of Chinese in the 21st Century.

The Institute will span the whole spectrum of evidence-base healthcare research and practice from generating evidence, synthesising evidence, assessing the economics of interventions, producing guidelines and implementing change through to leadership and management. With this in mind, we have developed five priority areas within our Institute to focus on different parts of this spectrum. We have a centre for systematic reviews and guidelines, which incorporates our new GRADE centre that will lead on developing national and international guidelines. We have a centre for health economics to provide input into ensuring that we are recommending cost effective care and analyse the diverse economic aspects of healthcare. We are developing centres for big data and research design, for future health technologies, and for healthcare leadership and management, and primary care training.

Our Institute is centred in our campus in Ningbo but has close links to our campus in Nottingham and Malaysia. We have collaborative links throughout China, particularly in Shanghai and Chengdu, and look to develop ties with others around China. We are interested in research and teaching collaborations, so if you are interested in working with us, please do get in touch.

Prof Richard Hubbard, Clinical Director of the Institute.