More Programs in Asia
Peking University-UNC Global Health Forum
The Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases collaborates with Peking University (PKU) on this innovative global health program. UNC’s has a varied history of collaboration with Peking University that has involved not only health disciplines−medicine, infectious disease, public health, and dentistry−but also business, sociology, economics, chemistry, and history.
The PKU-UNC Global Health Forum brings together scholars, policymakers, and the private sector to discuss critical issues relating to health reform in China and the U.S. The forum’s founder is Gordon Liu, chair of PKU’s Department of Health Economics and Management. Liu is a former faculty member in UNC’s School of Pharmacy and is currently adjunct professor in the UNC Department of Economics. Liu has been an important academic figure in China’s health reform efforts.
Forum sponsors include RTI International, Quintiles Transnational, Family Health International, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina.
Past Conferences
“Harmonious Development and Reaching Health for All”
December 11−12, 2006
Beijing, China
Topics: economic development and health care delivery, financing, laws and regulation, and human resources
“Health Crises and Disparities: Working Together on Solutions"
January 30−February 1, 2008
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Topics: cardiac care, tobacco control, HIV/AIDS, and health care reform
The next PKU-UNC Global Health Forum conference is in Beijing in July 2009.
Contact: Tom Martineau
UNC Confucius Institute
IGHID is spearheading UNC’s application to establish a Confucius Institute (CI) on campus. The Confucius Institute is a program administered by China’s Office of Chinese Language Council International. UNC’s Confucius Institute will support cultural and scientific collaboration and exchange between China and North Carolina by promoting understanding of China’s past, present and future contributions to science and civilization. The Confucius Institute will also provide UNC students and researchers who wish to work in China with good introductions to Chinese language and culture.
The UNC Confucius Institute is a collaboration between IGHID, the Office of International Affairs, the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, the Center for International Business Education and Research (Kenan-Flagler), World View, and UNC libraries. The UNC Confucius Institute has a target launch date of Fall 2009.
Contact: Tom Martineau
Pharmacogenetics for Every Nation Initiative (PGENI)
Based in the UNC School of Pharmacy, the Pharmacogenetics for Every Nation Initiative is composed of 9 global centers−including China−and is focused on government education, genomics, and helping to implement the use of genetics to guide national formulary decisions.
The PGENI project has 4 primary goals:
- Enhance the understanding of pharmacogenetics in the developing world
- Help build local infrastructure for future pharmacgenetic research studies
- Provide guidelines for medical prioritization for individual countries using pharmacogenetic information
- Promote the integration of genetic information into public health decision making process
To help with this initiative, IGHID is facilitating relationships with China’s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). A visiting scholar from the SFDA is coming to UNC in 2009 for a year of research.
Contact: Howard McLeod
China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS)
The China Health and Nutrition Survey is an ongoing international collaborative project between the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The project was designed to examine the effects of the health, nutrition, and family planning policies and programs implemented by national and local governments and to see how the social and economic transformation of Chinese society is affecting the health and nutritional status of its population. The impact on nutrition and health behaviors and outcomes is gauged by changes in community organizations and programs as well as by changes in sets of household and individual economic, demographic, and social factors.
The survey was conducted by an international team of researchers whose backgrounds include nutrition, public health, economics, sociology, Chinese studies, and demography. The survey took place over a 3-day period using a multistage, random cluster process to draw a sample of about 4400 households with a total of 19,000 individuals in nine provinces that vary substantially in geography, economic development, public resources, and health indicators. In addition, detailed community data were collected in surveys of food markets, health facilities, family planning officials, and other social services and community leaders.
Contact: chns@unc.edu
