To help more people lift themselves out of extreme poverty, development aid and cooperation must be more effective, especially since inequities in global health and development have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in decades, we have seen an increase in the number of people around the world living in poverty, especially women and children. Many low-income countries have had to make difficult tradeoffs on critical development issues. Meanwhile, financing for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is at risk of dwindling. These setbacks threaten to undermine the progress humanity has made over the past decades.
We believe that at this critical moment, the public sector, private institutions, and nongovernmental organizations must continue their support for the global battle against extreme poverty and health inequity. They should also explore new models of cooperation, enhance dialogue, and deepen development partnerships.
Over the past few decades, the growth of emerging economies—and in particular China’s success in reducing extreme poverty—has transformed the development landscape and provided new ideas for more effective cooperation. According to the World Bank, since China’s reform and opening up, the country has contributed more than 70% of the global reduction in extreme poverty, achieving its poverty alleviation targets set out in the SDGs 10 years ahead of schedule. We are particularly interested in how other developing nations might benefit from China’s experience in improving public health and promoting agricultural development.
With our partners, we work to enhance collaboration between China and other developing countries in order to better match supply and demand and enhance the effectiveness of bilateral aid efforts. For example, we signed the Framework of Three Parties Cooperation in Agriculture with China’s Ministry of Commerce and Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to help Mozambique raise farmers’ incomes, improve nutrition, and empower women. Similarly, the malaria control demonstration project we launched with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute of Parasitic Diseases and Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania drew on China’s experience with primary health care, disease surveillance and control, community interventions, and vector control to significantly reduce the prevalence of malaria in the pilot region.
We believe that multilateral cooperation is essential for solving global challenges. We work closely with global and regional development financing institutions to structure innovative financing solutions and mobilize resources. We also bring together governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to raise funds and inform policy decisions. For example, we supported the establishment of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which helps improve vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries, as well as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. We are a major donor to CGIAR, the world’s largest agricultural innovation network.
We also work with Chinese and international partners to devise new poverty reduction strategies, drawing on China’s extensive experience in this area, and to advance international exchanges that can help bring the benefits of successful Chinese anti-poverty policies and practices to other countries.
