On 8 December 2022, Fosun Foundation and the National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases held a signing ceremony for a strategic cooperation framework to jointly promote tuberculosis (TB) prevention and treatment programs. Adhering to the principles of complementary advantages, mutual support and common development, the two parties will establish a long-term and stable strategic cooperative relationship, and help China and the world achieve the goal of global TB elimination by 2035.
Valentina Wu, Executive Secretary of Fosun Foundation and Sun Feng, Director of the Clinical Research Department of National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases signed the agreement at the ceremony in the presence of Zhang Wenhong, Director of National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Wu Jiqin, Chief Medical Officer of National Center for Infectious Diseases, Wang Yun, Vice Chairman of Huashen Research Institute, Jenny Jinyuan Wang, Honorary Chairwoman of Fosun Foundation, Li Haifeng, Chairman of Fosun Foundation, Wen Deyong, CEO of Fosun Pharma, and Yang Bo, General Manager of Hongqi Pharmaceutical.
TB, which is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world, is one of the greatest challenges in global public health. At present, about 800,000 people are infected with TB each year in China. China is one of the high-burden TB countries in the world. There are nearly 5 million active TB patients, of which about 80% are located in rural areas. Fosun Foundation has always paid close attention to and actively participated in the prevention and control of TB. As early as 2016, Fosun Foundation and Hongqi Pharmaceutical, a member company of Fosun, jointly launched the "Double Thousand Action" program to assist TB patients in poverty. Within five years, the two parties have invested more than RMB5 million and helped more than 5,300 impoverished TB patients across the country.
In order to further support the national rural revitalization strategy and the global "Zero Tuberculosis" initiative, the National Center for Infectious Diseases will join hands with Fosun Foundation to work on TB prevention and detection in areas with a high incidence of TB in China, such as rural areas in Guizhou and Yunnan.
Zhang Wenhong said,“Fosun and the National Center for Infectious Diseases have a long-established cooperation relationship. For example, Fosun Foundation has been supporting the TB elimination programs in Yunnan and Guizhou through the Rural Doctors Program. Fosun's investment in China's public health is very much in line with the philosophy of National Center for Infectious Diseases. We look forward to more cooperation in the future.”
Through providing financial support, mobilizing and integrating relevant resources, and advocating and raising awareness of TB, combined with the grassroots public health network established by the Rural Doctors Program over the past five years, Fosun Foundation promotes the disease screening of key populations in areas with a high incidence of TB, the capability improvement of medical staff, and public TB health education.
In 2017, under the guidance of the National Health Commission Rural Revitalization Office (formerly National Health Commission Poverty Relief Office) and other units, Fosun Foundation, together with a number of public welfare partners, launched the Rural Doctors Program, which aims to support the "gatekeepers" of grassroots medical care, rural doctors. In the past five years, the Rural Doctors Program has covered 73 counties across the country, benefiting more than 24,000 rural doctors and more than 3 million rural families. In the future, Fosun Foundation will leverage this network to promote the implementation of the TB Prevention and Control Program and will take Guizhou as the first province to implement the Program.
Jenny Jinyuan Wang, Honorary Chairwoman of Fosun Foundation, said, “Fosun Foundation will strengthen TB prevention and treatment capabilities at grassroots level through programs such as special training for rural doctors, support local TB screening and detection, raise public awareness of relevant knowledge, call on various sectors of society to pay attention to and participate in TB prevention and treatment, endeavoring to achieve the goal of TB elimination with joint efforts.”
