On the afternoon of November 10^th, Sino-Thai seminar on the development of the public health system was held by the School of Medicine and Health Management of HUST through a video conference.

Three Thai scholars from Prince of Songkla University, Associate Professor Rassame, Assistant Professor Wit and Professor Tippawan attended the meeting and shared Thailand’s basic status of pandemic containment and chronic disease control in terms of research and practice. During the meeting, Rassame called for clarification on misinformation about smoking through media and stronger intervention to help people quit smoking after introducing his study on the smoking behaviors of people who were quarantined during the pandemic. Wit proposed the vaccination and intervention strategy of medical workers in a tertiary hospital in South Thailand based on their cognitive research findings on Covid-19 vaccination. Tippawan used the management of diabetes and hypertension to discuss Thailand’s experience of noncommunicable disease prevention and control. In addition, he emphasized the importance of chronic disease intervention among populations such as farmers, workers, middle-aged and senior people and poorly educated people.

Senior lecturer Liu Chenxi from the School of Medicine and Health Management of HUST analyzed China’s response to the pandemic from the perspectives of policy and experience, stressing the critical function of state macro regulation in the pandemic containment. Wang Yang, Assistant Professor of Shenzhen University, exemplified the experience of establishing the public health care system with the “Healthy City Plan” in Shenzhen. Li Boyang, Associate Professor of Wuhan University, explored the practice of building a comprehensive public health system in terms of providing universal health coverage. He pointed out that a secure public healthcare network was the foundation for the health of the general public and the surest way to build a healthy China in all respects. Zhang Nan, Professor and Vice Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Management of Inner Mongolia Medical University hosted the final part of the meeting – free discussion – in which participants engaged in a hot discussion about their own research field.

Participants of this seminar include experts, scholars, and representatives of masters and doctorial students from HUST, Prince of Songkla University, Wuhan University, Shenzhen University and Inner Mongolia University. This seminar has enriched the experiences and theory of building the public health system in both China and Thailand. Experts and scholars have had a deep exchange of opinions and reached a consensus that a strong public health system and an improved capability of prevention and rescue in all respects should be fostered according to national conditions in the context of the global pandemic, which holds strong relevance for the reform and development of the public health care systems in both countries.

Source: The School of Medicine and Health Management

Written by: Zeng Zhen

Edited by: Luo Xiaofan, Peng Yumeng