HHS Secretary Participates in First U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue

HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and members of his delegation meet with Minister of Health Gao Qiang, in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China. Secretary Leavitt attended the first Strategic Economic Dialogue from December 14-15, 2006, in Beijing. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Health, the People’s Republic of China.

December 13, 2006 - The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), is visiting provincial capitals in the People’s Republic of China to have a close look at Chinese life in villages, study Chinese health care, and to speak to students and health professionals. On December 12, 2006, he traveled to Guangzhou, the capital of coastal Guangdong Province. His first visits were to Chengdu, the capital of western Sichuan Province. Both visits took place before his participation in the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China, in which health will be on the agenda.

American adoptions of Chinese babies represent one-third of all U.S. international adoptions, and on his first full day in Guangzhou, December 11, 2006, Secretary Leavitt visited the Guangzhou Children’s Welfare Institute, which not only provides care and education for abandoned or orphaned children, but is the site of many international adoptions. "Half the Sky," a non-governmental program funded by U.S. adoptive parents of Chinese children, supports several nurturing, education, and training programs at the site and others like it in China for the many orphaned children who will probably never be adopted.

Later in the day, Secretary Leavitt visited the Sun Yat-sen University and met with the Dean of the Medical School, Professor Li Mengfeng. He spoke to over 100 medical students and faculty members, and then took part in a lively question-and-answer session with them. The University was named in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (also known as Sun Zhongshan), the founder of modern China. The Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, originally started in 1866, was the first medical school to practice and teach western medicine in China. Research at the medical school covers many advanced fields including medical genetics, biomedical engineering, and molecular medicine, and researchers at the institution are partners with U.S. scientists on projects funded by the HHS National Institutes of Health.

Continuing with his pattern of visiting hospitals and clinics in the People’s Republic of China, Secretary Leavitt also visited the Guangzhou People’s Hospital Number Eight, an infectious disease hospital that treated the first cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The hospital treated over 100 suspected SARS cases, including 20 among its own medical staff.

Secretary Leavitt also met with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou at a breakfast session, where he had the opportunity to hear about issues related to corporate planning in South China for a possible influenza pandemic. The Chamber represents over 700 American and international companies in South China.

For more information:

• Photo Gallery of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing

Last revised: December 13, 2007