Prof. Zhang Xiulan made keynote speech at the conference Health Systems in Asia in Singapore

(The article is written by SSDPP student Xu Huiwen and translated by Yang Tingting)

SSDPP Professor Zhang Xiulan participated the international conference Health Systems in Asia in National University of Singapore (NUS) during 13-16 December 2013. The conference was co-organized by NUS and the international journal Social Science and Medicine, which has attracted more than 300 experts and scholars in the fields of health policies and health economics to participate.

Considered one of the most vital conference for the health system in Asia in recent years, this conference aims to build up communication channels on health issues among Asian nations. Prof. Zhang Xiulan submitted two papers to the conference, namely The Current Situation of the Village Doctors in Transitional China: Findings from a Longitudinal Survey, and Doctors or Farmers: The Governance Challenges of Village Doctors in China, both were accepted. She did two presentations during the conference, introducing the current conditions and future strategies to the group of village doctors. She also engaged in in-depth discussions on a wide range of issues with participants from U.S., India, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

Village health workforce is the most vital, but most easily neglected part in a health system. The keynote speech by Prof. Zhang Xiuland has showcased the diversity and complex nature of the health workforce in rural China, which will be of great value for future policy making.

 Worth mentioning is that SSDPP Master’s student Xu Huiwen served as a volunteer for the conference. He also participated the writing of both papers presented in the conference.