China, Italy eye closer health cooperation

The deputy head of China’s national health authorities met with a senior Italian health official on May 29 in Beijing, vowing to deepen the health cooperation between the two countries.

Cui Li, vice-minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), co-hosted the China-Italy health dialogue with Giuseppe Ruocco, secretary general of the Italian Ministry of Health.

Cui said that the health sector is prioritized in China-Italy cooperation.

Since 2017, extensive exchanges and cooperation have been conducted in areas including prevention of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and primary medical care between the two countries.

China is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation with Italy in broader areas, especially under the Belt and Road Initiative, to improve the livelihood of people in both countries, said Cui.

Ruocco echoed Cui, highly appreciating China's tremendous achievements in improving public health.

He expressed his willingness to promote health cooperation with China in disease prevention, medical research, personnel training, healthy aging and sports medicine, among other fields.

During the meeting, Cui and Ruocco also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cancer research between the two countries.