SCO Health Ministers Discuss Cooperation and Digital Advancements

At the eighth Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Health Ministers' Meeting in Xi'an, China, Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong urged member states to enhance practical cooperation, openness, and innovation within the health sector. He emphasized the importance of this area for SCO collaboration, highlighting past successes in safeguarding public health, sharing disease prevention technologies, advancing medical science, and promoting traditional medicine.

Liu stressed the need for collaborative efforts to advance the health sector and drive progress in medical science and technology through openness and innovation. He also underscored the significance of strengthening people-to-people exchanges and upholding multilateralism.

Senior health ministers from SCO states discussed the integration of digital technologies and medicine to improve healthcare access and research innovation. China's Minister of National Health Commission, Lei Haichao, proposed using new information technologies and the SCO hospital alliance to create remote medical cooperation platforms and expand digital health initiatives. He also suggested establishing an SCO innovation center for integrating medicine and engineering at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University.

India's representative, Punya Salila Srivastava, highlighted India's efforts to use digital health to bridge healthcare gaps, particularly in remote areas. The nation's digital ecosystem has enabled the launch of a universal immunization platform and the development of tools for managing mental health diseases and tuberculosis.

Pakistan's representative, Syed Mustafa Kamal, noted the opportunities presented by Information and Communication Technology to improve healthcare. He called for the establishment of an SCO digital health task force to harmonize policies on data security, interoperability, and ethical AI use. He also proposed a digital health knowledge hub to facilitate the exchange of best practices and develop guidelines for responsible AI use in healthcare.

The meeting also addressed emergency medicine, traditional medicine, and primary healthcare. China's health minister, Lei, reported that a high percentage of Chinese households have access to medical facilities within 15 minutes and that primary-level healthcare institutions handle over half of all medical visits. He also noted improvements in life expectancy, infant mortality, and maternal mortality rates in China. Lei called for increased cooperation in primary healthcare to help member states expand universal healthcare coverage, improve resource allocation, and enhance the efficiency of medical services.