Global Health, Integrated Health Policy and Achieving the MDGs

Social, economic, science/technological changes in the world in recent years made the Changes in spectrum of diseases, model of public health, and globalization, etc. , thus brings out the new concept of “Global Health” to substitute “International Health”. Health has been globally recognized as core element of the development agenda, impetus of social progress and basis of social stabilization and prosperity.

Along with the development of “Global Health”, holistic health policy and system with equality and equity to human being are badly needed, integrated and coordinated health investment and performance are big challenge and target to international society, and these provide the right way to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in health domain.

United Nations MDGs are the world’s time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty and exclusion. The MDGs provide important milestones towards the progressive realization of the right to health, including in Goal 4, 5 and 6: reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and improving access to water and sanitation, as well as access to essential drugs at prices that poor countries can afford. Over the past decade, the world has been achieving results on the MDGs, but the progress remains slow, developing countries, especially the most underdeveloped countries, are in escalated economic difficulties.

As a developing country, China has made great efforts on achieving the MDGs and got remarkable results in the past decade. The Goals of 1, Halve, the proportion of poverty/hunger people, 2, Universal primary education, and 3, Reducing child mortality have been achieved in advance in China. Big progress was also made on reaching the other two health MDGs in China. The progress of achieving health MDGs recently in China is analyzed in this presentation.