Rural areas' healthcare lags behind: vice minister

Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu has acknowledged that there is a huge gap between the quality of healthcare offered in urban and rural areas, both in terms of outcome for patients and access to services.

And he said the gap likely will not be closed in the next 30 years.

Huang was speaking at Friday's launch of two major reports in the Chinese language - the 2008 World Health Report on Primary Health Care and Closing the Gap in a Generation. The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).