HAN Qide, Chairman of PKU-iGHD, spoke at the launching ceremony of Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University (PKU-iGHD) and the Beijing Forum 2020: COVID-19 Shocks to Global Health and Development:
Distinguished guests from home and abroad: In 2020, this unusual year of 2020, the Beijing Forum took place as scheduled and we are here to witness the launching ceremony of the Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development. The idea of the establishment of the Institute was born in the spring when the pandemic was controlled in China and the preparation was officially started on May 4th, which is the anniversary day of the Peking University. Now we are welcoming the birth of a new institute, and that is the PKU-iGHD. Congratulations. The establishment of PKU-iGHD is in line and comes at the right time, good place with supportive people.
First of all, the right time. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought unprecedented impact on people's lives and economic development, and these impacts present both challenges and opportunities. The spread trend of COVID-19, the prevention and control mode and also the vaccine developments are all new challenges we need to face. COVID-19 affected the whole medical system and the impact on the economy and politics is actually is highly correlated with the development of whole mankind. The PKU-iGHD focus on global health and development, born in 2020, it takes promising trend and will definitely have a bright future.
Now let's take a look at the so-called good place. The global health as a discipline of 20 years history, it has evolved from tropical medicine, regional medicine, and international health. This emerging discipline has three main features: focusing on cross-border health problems and solutions, emphasizing the combination of public health - population and prevention as the main strategy, and clinical methods - individual disease diagnosis and treatment as a key, as well as multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. With the development of China's economy and the improvement of international influence, China is also playing an increasingly important role in the field of global health. The director Liu Pei Rong and his team a few years ago published a paper in the Lancet and he pointed out that in terms of knowledge exchange, health assistance, health security, and global health governance, China has made outstanding contributions to the world. How can China perform well to promote people's health, economic and social development in the new uncertainty era around the world, is a worthy research work to do. Therefore, it is also the embodiment of the regional advantages of this new research institute established at Peking University in China.
Finally, let look at the people. We have Global Health Department at Peking University School of Public Health - a founding member and held the first chairman of Chinese Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CCUGH), established the China Global Health Network with a joint of government, industry, university, and research institute, and made great contributions to the development of China's global health discipline that is obvious to all.
Why we are setting up the Institute for Global Health and Development at Peking University?
This is inseparable from the two features of global health: across multiple disciplines, and focus on both public health and healthcare. At the same time, it also reflects the strategic positioning and courage of the leaders of Peking University.
As for the new institute, it will exert its function of integration of multiple disciplines, for example public health, economics management, international relationships, data science, life science and clinical science, and psychology and so on and so forth. And hopefully the PKU-iGHD will play a role as a hub and flagship, to the talent advantages in the university and also bring about considerable contributions into scientific research and other related fields.
On the day of the establishment of this institute, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and congratulations to all of you who have worked so hard to prepare for the establishment of PKU-iGHD and also for those who are unable to attend today's ceremony. I would like to say thank you for your support as well. I am very happy to be the co-chairman of the advisory council of the PKU-iGHD with professor William Hiao, and we believe that under the leadership of the chairman Zhan Qiming, the Dean Gordon Liu, and otherwise deans, we will scale new heights and achieve brilliant and success and contribute to the cause of global development and human development for China and the world. Thank you very much.
