WHO lauds nation's healthcare plan

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-07 07:38

Officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank have said China's commitment to universal access to basic healthcare in its new healthcare reform plan was an encouraging and right decision.

WHO lauds nation's healthcare plan
A saleswoman speaks with a customer at a pharmacy in Beijing. [A Jing]

Dr. Sarah Barber, an official with WHO Representative Office in China, said that the aim to improve equitable access to essential healthcare for all in China was "laudable".

The health sector reform plan prioritizes public health, rural health development, essential medicines, and primary healthcare facilities. Plans to significantly increase funding to support these areas pave the way for achieving these goals, Barber said.

The official said that the success of the reforms, however, will depend on how effectively this vision was implemented in various sectors and regions across China.

John C. Langenbrunner, lead health economist with the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Region, said: "It is indeed an encouraging and right decision for the government to commit to universal access to basic healthcare."

It definitely should be on top of the government's agenda to focus on rural health, public health, and community health, and working on the five priorities, he said.

WHO lauds nation's healthcare plan

He also stressed that it was important for China to choose a reform path depending on its own conditions while learning from others.

"Obviously, China needs to develop its own healthcare system, appropriate to its values, goals, and burden of disease", Barber said.

However, many health systems in the world are trying to solve the same problems in providing accessible, quality care for their populations.

It is, therefore, useful to study and evaluate how other countries have addressed the same problems, said the WHO official.

Langenbrunner said the reform path to be chosen depends on sociopolitical conditions, economy, and the profile of disease burden problems faced by individual countries.

It is not wise to copy any country's health reform package without analyzing the context and the key issues faced by its health system when designing China's own health reform, he said.

Commenting on China's moves since 2006 to seek public opinion from inside and outside the country, including the World Bank, Langenbrunner said the government seeking public opinion and preference regarding health reform was a move in the right direction.

"Health is very personal for all of us. And the general public has the final word on whether the current health reform will be successful or not," he said.

Barber said WHO hope that the Chinese government will continue to involve key stakeholders as the plan develops.

Xinhua