Second Xiongan International Health Forum kicks off

The second Xiongan International Health Forum, aimed to provide a platform for government officials, professors, business managers, researchers and medical doctors to exchange health ideas, kicked off in Langfang city in North China's Hebei province on Thursday.

Those at the two-day forum will discuss various topics concerning people's health, including planning for comprehensive health in Xiongan New Area, medical health based on big data and AI in the era of 5G, preventive treatment of diseases and ending violence against children to improve mental health.

"The first forum held last year proposed valuable suggestions on the development of the health industry in Xiongan, some of which have been adopted in the design of the new area's planning and policies," Chen Gang, secretary of Xiongan New Area CPC Working Committee and director of the area's administrative committee, said at the forum's opening ceremony on Thursday morning.

According to Chen, Xiongan has integrated health development into the whole process of its planning since the area was established in April 2017.

About 45 major hospitals and more than 100 medical specialists from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have come to Xiongan to work on the area's health planning and development.

The construction of a new hospital that's supported by Beijing's Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University has started. 

After completion, the hospital will be managed by the Xuanwu Hospital, which will send talents in management and medical techniques to the hospital to improve the area's medical services, according to the area's official WeChat account.

A national medical center is being planned and will be built in the new area.

"All these efforts will help improve the health services level in Xiongan, and thus help attract talents in Beijing's non-capital functions to the area," Chen said.

The non-capital functions in Xiongan New Area include universities, research institutes, medical institutions, company headquarters and financial institutions.

Chen added Xiongan will be built into a strategic center and global benchmark that leads the world's modern life science and technology, biotechnology and industrial development.

The forum is co-hosted by the Shenzhen World Health Foundation, China Health Culture Association, China Association of Chinese Medicine and China Institute of Strategy and Management.