Australia has signed agreements with China to boost the cooperation between the nations in providing citizens with necessary health services and to work on health policies. The two countries will focus on communicable disease control, preventative health and improvement of medicines policy.

The Australia-China Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the Plan of Action on Health Cooperation have been signed by the Minister for Health Sussan Ley with her Chinese counterpart, Dr Li Bin. The new MoU will allow the two countries to work on health-related policy issues through an exchange of information, joint projects and participation in key meetings.

According to Ley, the current agreements come after 22 years since the first agreements were signed in Canberra. The Australia-China MoU is expected to provide an updated framework for cooperation, complemented by a three-year Plan of Action.

The Plan was designed for both governments to work on health systems innovation and sustainability, communicable disease prevention and response and non-communicable disease prevention and management.

“Australia and China have a long and very strong relationship in health, and there is much we can work closely on and continue to learn from each other,” Ley said in a press release by the Department of Health. “China and Australia share many common challenges in health and it is through visits such as this that we are able to learn from each other’s experiences and together work to build stronger health systems for our populations,” she added.

The two nations also agreed on funding new health technology and treatments. Ley said that discussions with China include areas of digital and Telehealth and Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

With the signed agreements, there will be further reciprocal visits by officials from both countries to share information about key policy developments for the improvement of health services.

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