The World Bank's Assistance to China's Health Sector

For its level of socioeconomic development, China has widely been perceived as a country with an enviable record in public health. Recently, there are encouraging signs that health has become an important priority in the government s agenda, bringing multiple government agencies into a more cooperative relationship, and providing the Bank greater opportunity to engage the country in policy dialogues to more effectively in improve health outcomes and financing in a more equitable and sustainable way. Since China became a member in 1980, the World Bank's program of assistance for health has consisted of 11 projects (involving commitments of 808 million dollars of International Development Association (IDA) credits and 139 million dollars of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans) and 3 economic and sector work (ESW) reviews. This was complemented by the China network for training and research in health economics and health financing set up in 1991, and jointly funded by the Chinese Government and World Bank Institute (WBI). There have also been various initiatives supported by the health anchor some of which include tobacco control, tuberculosis control, and indoor air pollution. Attempts to increase budget allocations to counties and townships to improve health systems performance are now being pursued more aggressively by the Bank. The Bank should be more involved with upstream policy advice and reaching the decision-makers who control broader fiscal and economic policies.