Joint statement from UK-China Health Dialogue

The UK’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid and China’s Health Minister Ma Xiaowei concluded the virtual meeting of the UK-China Health Dialogue on 26th November 2021.

The two sides recognised the contribution made by the UK-China Health Dialogue since its establishment in 2007 in promoting mutual understanding and trust between the UK and China. They agreed to strengthen exchanges and develop a joint health plan for collaboration in key areas.

During this meeting, the two sides acknowledged the challenges both countries had faced in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and looked ahead to cooperation in future domestic and global challenges and opportunities in the coming years.

Both sides recalled the 2020 UK-China Health Dialogue and agreed the good progress made over recent years. In particular: policy exchanges on the COVID-19 pandemic, global health collaboration, antimicrobial resistance, medicines regulations, and working together on health in Africa.

Both sides agreed to collaborate on knowledge exchange and implementing evidence based practices in providing high quality healthcare to their people in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, emerging infectious diseases, ageing populations, and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.

Both sides agreed to cooperate on global health security through the UK-China public health agencies, specifically on infectious disease control, emerging infectious diseases, emergency response and antimicrobial resistance, food safety risk surveillance and assessment.

Both sides noted the significance of supporting opportunities for sharing and learning from addressing COVID-19 and future pandemic preparedness such as scaling up support for global COVID-19 surveillance, genomic sequencing capacity, and variant assessment capabilities to ensure a global recovery from Covid-19.

Both sides agreed to cooperate on multilateral engagement in the health space and work together to strengthen the WHO, particularly with regard to pandemic preparedness and response. Both sides agree to cooperate across the wider multilateral landscape on international protocols and with international organisations, specifically supporting countries to comply with International Health Regulations and international standards across all hazards; and taking action on global health threats such as antimicrobial resistance and the health impacts of climate change. Both sides agreed on the importance of taking concrete measures to improve pandemic preparedness and response

Both sides agreed continuing to strengthen the dialogue and exchanges on policy and enhance collaboration, specifically on health care for ageing populations, and to continue dialogue on health development in Africa.

Both sides agreed to work together to enable vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to be rapidly developed, tested and deployed both in public health emergencies and for ongoing global health challenges, including through strengthening clinical trials infrastructure.

Both sides agree to work together on medical education and training.

The two sides acknowledged the contribution made over the last year in the challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic in sustaining UK-China relations and undertook to build on the progress made at the 2021 UK-China Health Dialogue. Both sides agreed to review progress and renew a Memorandum of Understanding on Health Cooperation between The National Health Commission of China and UK Department of Health and Social Care at the next Health Dialogue in 2022.

Signed in Beijing and London on 26th Nov 2021 in duplicate, each written in Chinese and English, both texts being equally valid.

Sajid Javid, Secretary of State, Department of Health & Social Care of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

MA Xiaowei, Minister for Health, National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China