China Healthcare Policy implications

In view of China managing major health system reform against a background of rapid economic and institutional change, the Institute of Development Studies, an international research institute, outlines policy implications based on collaborative research around the Chinese approach to health system development.

A comparison of China's healthcare to other nations shows that the organization of healthcare is crucial to its implementation. There exists some degree of disorganization and inequity in access to healthcare in urban and rural areas, but the overall quality of healthcare has not been drastically affected. Certain incentives, such as adjusting prices of medical equipment and medicine have helped improve health care to an extent. The largest barrier to improvement in healthcare is a lack of unity in policies affecting each county.

The Institute of Development Studies suggests testing innovations at local level, encouraging learning from success, and gradually building institutions that support new ways of doing things. It suggests that analysts from other countries and officials in organizations that support international health need to understand this approach if they are to strengthen mutual learning with their Chinese counterparts.