'Silk Road of Health': 2nd China-Arab States Health Forum held in Beijing

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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. Wu Guoxiu reports.

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 covers governments, hospitals and the medical industry, to jointly build what they call a "Silk Road of Health".

HAIFA SHAKER ABU GHAZALEH ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL, LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES "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."

The first such health forum was held in 2015 in China. And this time, China calls for building a stable, multi-level cooperation mechanism to tackle health problems.

MA XIAOWEI, DIRECTOR CHINA'S NATIONAL HEALTH COMMISSION "Through government and civil levels, 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, to share information and technology, to open health markets and transfer talents."

According to the country's chief health commissioner, China has medical teams in 8 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.

WU GUOXIU BEIJING "This 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, to let Chinese and Arab states' hospitals work together directly. Wu Guoxiu, CGTN, Beijing."