Beijing, China — Two financial contributions of note mark the increasing support of China’s health care reform from western sources. The German corporation Siemens kicked off a $10 million, five-year rural health care project in China on Thursday. The project will be rolled out in Yan’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. Siemens will equip the county-level hospital with a full range of diagnostic imaging equipment including ultrasound, X-ray and CT machines. The project is part of Siemens’ contribution to the Clinton Global initiative to support the development of poorer areas in emerging countries
On another front (see my earlier post), the “Toward a Smoke-Free China” public campaign has been launched with $125 million donated by New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The two-year campaign will be run by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), Peking Union Medical College, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and will cover about 20 pilot provinces. The day following the announcement, The China Daily, which often communicates the Chinese government’s position on public issues, came out with a strong editorial supporting smoking “eradication”. The editorial focused especially on children.
“Can we expect our children to do as we say when we continue to smoke? Will schoolchildren trust their teachers when they tell them about the harm of smoking in class but drag hard on cigarettes after class?”
Private sector projects like these demonstrate the possibilities when world attention is focused on China’s critical health care challenge. Let’s hope they continue.
