Global Health Forum set for June in Qingdao

The Global Health Forum of the Boao Forum for Asia will be held June 10 to June 12 in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, the organization said during its promotion meeting held in Beijing on Saturday.

The Global Health Forum, as the first of its kind, aims at fostering communication between the government and enterprises along the value chain of China's healthcare industry. It will focus on the hot topics in the healthcare sector, and gathering opinions from experts and enterprises to boost global cooperation.

The theme of the forum is, "Health Beyond Health". The forum, which will last three days, will feature six sub-seminars and a high-end political and business seminar, to give the government and enterprises an opportunity to communicate.

"Chronic diseases are becoming an increasingly severe problem among Chinese patients, and Chinese people now have a higher demand on their health. The public wants to stay healthy, while the government wants to fulfill their wish. There is a problem that drugs are becoming increasingly expensive. We need to seek a balance where drug companies can make money while the public are able to afford their treatment," Margaret Chan, president of the Global Health Forum and former World Health Organization director-general, said.

Gauden Galea, WHO's representative in China, noted that the WHO recently launched a new work plan, aiming at protecting over 1 billion people from natural or man-made disasters, and making them maintain a healthier lifestyle. "The forum helps us to achieve that goal," Galea said.

According to Luo Xielong, executive director of the Global Health Forum organizing committee, more than 1,000 participants will take part in the forum, covering the government to enterprises along the industrial chain of the healthcare sector. From 60 to 80 industry experts, who are Nobel Prize winners or academicians, from home and abroad, will deliver speeches during the forum. The seminars will focus on domestic and international healthcare enterprises' opinions on healthcare innovation, healthcare investment, healthcare policy and technologies applied in the sector.

"China's healthcare market is big, and enterprises have high manufacturing abilities. However, China's innovation capability needs to be improved. Through the forum, we hope to introduce good healthcare projects from abroad, to boost international cooperation."

Luo noted that the reason why the forum will be held in Qingdao is that Shandong province ranks first in terms of national biomedical output value. In 2017, its biomedical output value reached 310 billion yuan ($46.2 billion).

"Besides, Qingdao successfully hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit last year. The city is capable of hosting international meetings," he said.