Health system development

Mission and Goals

The World Health Organization Representative Office in China supports the Government of China's five-year national health development and reform strategy (2009-2014) in its overall goal of achieving universal coverage that provides safe, effective, convenient and affordable basic health services to all urban and rural residents.

WHO works closely with the Ministry of Health, local governments and other stakeholders to develop and improve national and local health systems.

WHO's Role

The WHO Representative Office in China has been actively involved in ongoing healthcare reform in China through providing assistance in the areas of policy and strategy development, data collection, health financing, public hospital reform, service delivery system, human resources for health, and essential medicines, as well as supporting the preparation of tools used for monitoring, assessing and evaluating performance and progress.

WHO also provides technical and policy advice to the work related to health system strengthening in the western area of China under the Ministry of Health's initiative, the Western China Health Initiative (WAHI).

WHO's programme and activities work to support China's existing health systems by building the capacity of China's health system. This includes building capacity in quality assurance of pharmaceuticals, health services and human resources for health; and continued support of a piloted programme of hospital reform in China.