As the 3rd High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development is underway in Beijing, public health and well-being are emerging as key issues on the agenda. Against this backdrop, and within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3), growing attention is being placed on the World Health Organization's role in advancing international cooperation, with coordinated global action increasingly seen as central to strengthening global health governance.

From a capacity-building perspective, cooperation between China and the World Health Organization (WHO) is shifting from standalone project support toward building sustainable public health systems in developing countries. A key focus is strengthening human capacity through joint training and localized technical support. For example, in malaria control projects, cooperation has moved beyond providing supplies to training local personnel in surveillance, diagnosis and treatment. The cooperation aims to help countries gradually build the ability to respond to diseases independently. This shift from "delivering projects" to "building capacity" is seen as key to long-term sustainability.

At the level of health emergency response, China has actively participated in international public health actions through the WHO framework. During major public health emergencies such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, China has contributed medical teams, supplies and technical expertise through WHO mechanisms, helping to establish a model of multilateral coordination and rapid response. Such practices exemplify the kind of international effort required to intensify response activities and strengthen national capacities.

From a multilateral cooperation perspective, China's role in international health collaboration is increasingly reflected in its ability to link resources, expertise and project implementation. By leveraging the platform of the WHO, China engages in the implementation of global health frameworks and technical cooperation, aligning with relevant standards and promoting their application in developing countries. Also, China has established closer linkages between technical expertise, personnel training and on-the-ground implementation through financial support and South-South cooperation mechanisms.

Looking further, as relevant cooperation frameworks continue to evolve, collaboration between China and the WHO is becoming increasingly institutionalized and long-term in nature. Under the China-WHO Country Cooperation Strategy (2022–2026) and the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, both sides have identified public health capacity as a priority while placing greater emphasis on integrating cooperation into national health systems and the broader global governance agenda.

Within this framework, cooperation is expanding beyond individual projects to include policy alignment, system development and coordinated action on global health issues such as health security, pandemic response mechanisms and governance practices. This approach towards the strategic frameworks has made bilateral cooperation more readily integrated into multilateral systems and strengthened the coordination and stability of global health governance to some extent.

At a press briefing ahead of the 3rd High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, Zhao Fengtao, vice chairman of China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), and Tang Ying, director of the Global Development Promotion Center of CIDCA, shared China will continue to advance health-related projects as part of its development cooperation. These include supporting African countries in upgrading or building medical and health facilities, assisting in responses to outbreaks such as mpox and cholera, and implementing malaria elimination demonstration programs. Efforts will also focus on strengthening public health capacity through medical teams, training programs, and experience sharing.

At the same time, health is being integrated into a broader development agenda, including leveraging digital technologies to support drug research and development, promoting smart healthcare initiatives, and improving environmental and public health through cooperation in areas such as climate early warning systems and forest fire prevention.