Areas of Work

In 2008, CMB launched a fresh initiative to strengthen scientific excellence in “critical capacities” among Chinese and Asian institutions to address the premier health challenges of the 21st century – equitable access to primary and preventive health services in market-driven economies so that all can access and benefit from the advancement of knowledge. This entails strengthening capacity in the fields of health policy, health systems, and the associated research and educational activities to advance equity in health in China and Asia. CMB grant support is directed to strengthening the capacity of schools of medicine, nursing, and public health.

While China has enjoyed significant health achievements, it is facing daunting challenges in the reform of its health system, especially in educating its professional health workforce and in research to guide health interventions.  As in all complex modern economies, China is calling upon its intellectual assets and evidence-based studies to formulate strategies for crafting an equitable, effective, and efficient health system. And as China’s health policies expand beyond the immediate needs of medical care, its medical universities can lead the multidisciplinary engagement needed to integrate lifestyle, behavioral, environmental, and other factors into disease prevention and health promotion. At the same time, these universities can redefine their pedagogy, so that schools of medicine, nursing, and public health produce the skill sets required to tackle the country’s health challenges.

CMB has long-standing relationships with many of China’s leading medical universities, and the strength of these partnerships sets the foundation for CMB’s grant-making strategy.  CMB’s programs aim to build essential capacities in population-based health policy and system sciences by strengthening the next generation of academic leaders working in centers of excellence.  It gives particular attention to advancing the field of health policy and systems sciences, building capacity in medical education, directing resources to rural health, and controlling one of the country’s most preventable public health threats, tobacco consumption.

Southeast Asia remains a focus of CMB’s work and grants to institutions in that region reflect the same integrated themes of health policy systems and sciences, medical education, and rural health.