EVENTS

In the context of COVID-19, the robustness of health service systems across the world have come under scrutiny that has highlighted the intrinsic fault lines. Even countries that had been categorised as having ‘better performing’ health service systems, faced challenges in managing the pandemic. This talk would take the Chinese health system as a case in point to demonstrate the evolution of a complex health system and fault lines that exist and have been accentuated especially in the Covid context. China’s health reforms have witnessed significant shifts especially since the SARS epidemic of 2002. The reforms have been consistently striving for universal access and equitable health systems and yet have fallen short of delivering during COVID years. This talk attempts to unravel the past and the present reforms in China and what it means for the future of health systems in China and lessons that can be drawn for other health systems.

About the Panelist

Madhurima Nundy is a Fellow in Health and Human Development at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, New Delhi. She holds a PhD in Public Health from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She completed her MPhil from the same centre. Previously she was Assistant Director and Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi (2012-21); Senior Programme Coordinator at the Public Health Resource Network, New Delhi (2009-12). Among other experiences, she was a Technical Consultant with the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (2004-05) and a Research Associate at the Institute of Social Studies Trust (1999-2001). Her areas of interest include studying different health service systems, health policies and inequalities in health. She has several publications to her name.

About the Chair

Alka Acharya is the Honorary Director of ICS and Chairperson at the Centre for East Asian Studies, SIS, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has been teaching courses on Chinese Foreign Policy and Political Economy to the Masters and M.Phil students and guiding doctoral research since 1993. She is the joint editor of the book Crossing a Bridge of Dreams: 50 years of India-China and has contributed chapters to many books and journals. She has authored a book China & India: Politics of Incremental Engagement, published in 2008 and most recently edited a volume titled Boundaries and Borderlands: A Century after the 1914 Simla Convention (Routledge, New York 2023). She was nominated by the Indian government as a member of the India-China Eminent Persons Group (2006-2008) and member of the National Security Advisory Board of the Government of India for two terms (2006-2008) and (2011-2012).

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