November 19-24, 2009 – Changsha City, Hunan Province, China
CRI and the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease Meet with Chinese Leaders and Citizens About the Importance of Chronic Disease Prevention
Canyon Ranch Institute and our partner organization the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) were invited to meet with Chinese leaders as part of a health diplomacy visit to share information about health care reform in the United States, as well as discuss the best practices in U.S. health promotion and disease prevention. China is currently debating health care reform to advance the health and well-being of their approximately 1.3 billion citizens. Diseases related to unhealthy eating, lack of regular physical activity, alcohol and tobacco use, high stress, and insufficient rest are growing concerns in China.
CRI President Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006), and national chairperson of the PFCD, and Jennifer Cabe, M.A., executive director of CRI and member of the PFCD Advisory Board traveled to China for meetings with members of the Chinese Government, leading corporations, and the media, as well as clinicians, health scientists, public health practitioners, and economists, to share their expertise in disease prevention, health literacy, and management of chronic disease.
A national summit entitled "Chinese Medical and Health System Reform – Opportunities and Challenges," was held on November 22 and 23, and featured three keynotes and numerous panels.
Professor Guowei Sang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, and President of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association provided the welcoming keynote to the more than 300 Chinese government employees, business leaders, media representatives, scientists, and clinicians.
Professor Sang noted that China once provided universal health care to its citizens, but access to health care has been reduced for many people in the past two to three decades. In that time, medical costs have soared faster than incomes, and treatment today depends on one's ability to pay. He also stated that according to the World Health Organization, nearly one-third of poor people in China say that bad health is the greatest cause of their poverty.
Professor Sang noted that the Chinese Government's goals for health reform include:
- Improving health services, in part by building 2,000 county hospitals and 29,000 township hospitals and ensuring that each of the country's nearly 700,000 villages has a clinic.
- Expanding state health insurance from 70 to 90 percent of the population, or an additional 200 million people.
- Reducing drug costs by controlling prices for medications that are deemed essential by the Chinese Government.
- Longer term, the Chinese Government is seeking ways to cut back on unnecessary treatment and medication prescriptions that are blamed for skyrocketing fees at public hospitals because these facilities and their health professionals are paid only for providing treatment and prescribing medications.
Dr. Carmona then provided the first keynote that brought forward a perspective from outside of China’s borders. He spoke about disease prevention as an effective means to improve public health and reduce health care costs while improving the quality and quantity of life. He referenced the 2009 PFCD publication the “Almanac of Chronic Disease” as a comprehensive resource of information and data on chronic disease that clearly demonstrates that improvements in chronic disease prevention and management will save lives and reduce health care spending.
Dr. Carmona was followed by Michael Wooldridge, M.D., former Minister of Health and Aged Care Australia (1998-2001). Dr. Wooldridge emphasized the economic importance of prevention of chronic disease, a policy that he successfully pursued as Australia’s highest-ranked government health leader.
The presentations were followed by numerous panel sessions and question-and-answer sessions, one of which was moderated by Dr. Carmona.
Other presenters included senior-level Chinese scientists, government leaders, and clinicians, as well as Western experts including John Langenbrunner, Health Economist with the World Bank, and Ross DeVol, Ph.D., Director of Regional Economics at the Milken Institute.
Mr. Langenbrunner explained that the Chinese health system is reforming in response to the problems it is seeing among its population, "People are paying too much out of pocket for their services for their health care. Many are becoming impoverished in the process. The level of dissatisfaction, at the local level, is very high and the government is responding to this."
Eight months into the Chinese Government’s three-year plan, reform remains a work in progress, just as in the United States and many other Western nations. More than 60 percent of the funding for health care reform in China is intended to come from regional governments, and it's unclear how the poorer regions will come up with the money. "In a country with 1.3 billion people, to achieve the goal of health for all is by no means an easy job, particularly at a time of global financial crisis and economic downturn," China’s Health Minister Chen Zhu wrote in The Lancet, a British medical journal, in early 2009. "However, we are determined to transform these challenges into opportunities."
While in China, the Western delegation that Dr. Carmona and Jennifer were a part of also visited with leaders and staff of several health care facilities and a pharmacy and participated in briefing sessions with members of the Chinese Government to discuss China’s concerns about how China can meet the growing challenges of an aging society and opportunities to increase the use of prevention practices in their health care system. Independently, Dr. Carmona and Jennifer visited a neighborhood public health center and the Hunan Embroidery Research Institute, which promotes employee health by not allowing tobacco use at the workplace (a rare practice in China), ensuring that employees have access to healthy lunches, and offering opportunities for physical activity during the lunch hour.
Event Photographs:
Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006), president of Canyon Ranch Institute, and national chairperson of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, delivered a keynote and then answered questions from the audience on best practices in preventive health care at a national summit entitled "Chinese Medical and Health System Reform – Opportunities and Challenges.” (November 22, 2009, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, © 2009 Canyon Ranch Institute, Jennifer Cabe photographer)
During a health diplomacy visit to China, the Western delegation attending a national summit entitled "Chinese Medical and Health System Reform – Opportunities and Challenges” met with numerous Chinese Government leaders. CRI President Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006) and national chairperson of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (seated left, holding microphone) spoke with the Chinese officials through an interpreter, as did Michael Wooldridge, M.D., former Minister of Health and Aged Care Australia (1998-2001) (seated right). (November 21, 2009, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, © 2009 Canyon Ranch Institute, Jennifer Cabe photographer)
As part of a health diplomacy visit to China, CRI President Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006) and national chairperson of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, visited a hospital. (November 21, 2009, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, © 2009 Canyon Ranch Institute, Jennifer Cabe photographer)
CRI President Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006) visited a neighborhood public health center in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood of Changsha City. The poster shown in this photo was a message to encourage people to not use tobacco. China currently has a very high rate of tobacco use. (November 23, 2009, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, © 2009 Canyon Ranch Institute, Jennifer Cabe photographer)
CRI Executive Director Jennifer Cabe, M.A. visited the Hunan Embroidery Research Institute as part of a health diplomacy visit to China. The state-run embroidery institute promotes employee health by not allowing tobacco use at the workplace (a rare practice in China), ensuring that employees have access to healthy lunches, and offering opportunities for physical activity during the lunch hour. (November 23, 2009, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, © 2009 Canyon Ranch Institute, Richard H. Carmona photographer)
