China and 21 Arab states have held their second health forum in Beijing, calling for better information sharing and joint actions to deal with major diseases. Infectious diseases, health problems for women and children: these are among the topics discussed as health authorities from China and 21 Arab League member states met in Beijing. Their vision, shared by governments, hospitals and the medical industry, is to jointly build what they called the "Silk Road of Health." 

"Now there will be a lot of challenges we are facing. How we can enhance our relation in different aspects, especially in the fields of research, innovation ideas, traditional health, in addition to training and rehabilitation, hospital managements," said Haifa Shaker Abu Ghazaleh, the assistant secretary general and head of social affairs of the League of Arab States.

The first forum was held in 2015 in northwest China's Yinchuan City, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. This time, China calls for building a stable, multi-level cooperation mechanism to tackle health problems.

Ma Xiaowei, director of China's National Health Commission, told attendees, "Through government and civil channels, we can communicate our health strategies regularly. We can also encourage research institutes, public health institutions, hospitals and universities, and even the health industries, to form cooperative unions.

"The aim is to set up a cooperative pattern to share information and technology, open health markets and transfer talents," Ma added.

The chief health commissioner says China has medical teams in eight Arab League countries, with over 300 medical personnel working in Arab nations. China has also signed health cooperation documents with 13 Arab League countries for projects like epidemic control and training medical staff.

The forum has adopted a proposal to cooperate on health policies, major disease control and traditional medicine. It also aims to build a hospital cooperation network between Chinese and Arab states' hospitals.