PATH and CEPI set up offices in Shanghai to help with COVID-19 fight

Two international organizations renowned for their achievements in the health sector recently established offices in Shanghai that would help the world with its fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, obtained its registration in Shanghai on April 17.

Seattle-based PATH, an international nonprofit organization that creates solutions enabling communities to break longstanding cycles of poor health, established its office in Shanghai on April 23.

The Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission said on Monday that it took only two months for the organizations to be set up, a demonstration of the city's administrative efficiency.

PATH said its work in China will be focused on developing and applying appropriate health technologies, increasing cooperation and capacity-building for innovative medicines and global health, and enabling scientific and technological exchanges between Chinese scientific research institutions and its global partners.

Richard Hatchett, chief executive officer of CEPI, said that its Shanghai office will facilitate collaboration with China in the fight against COVID-19.

Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, said that the commission will actively promote practical and efficient cooperation between the two organizations and relevant research institutions and resources so as to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.