Recently, the World Bank approved a $300 million loan to support China in preventing and responding to Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) via the promotion of the “One Health” Approach. $175 million of the loan was given to Hainan Province.

What is the “One Health” Approach? On April 20, at the BFA 2021 panel discussion on “Free Trade Ports: The Global Trend”, panelists from China and around the world discussed the concept of the “One Health” Approach before reaching a consensus that the concept involves human and animal health, environmental sanitation, and food and agricultural production safety. Additionally, interdisciplinary and cross-regional communication and collaboration are considered necessary to turn the concept into action.

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According to Martin Raiser (World Bank Country Director for China and Mongolia, and World Bank Director for Korea), before the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of people who were affected by infectious diseases across the world was around 250,000 per year, with 25% of the population infected due to animal-to-human transmission. As interactions between humans and animals, as well as humans and the environment, are becoming more frequent than ever, we are now seeing an increasing need to detect and prevent Emerging Infectious Diseases before they develop into epidemics and pandemics.

So why was Hainan chosen to receive a $175 million loan to promote the "One Health” concept? Martin Raiser believes that the rapidly developing Hainan Free Trade Port is ready for this challenging task, stating that “In Hainan, we found a leadership and a team that was ready to work with this concept... and we hope that Hainan will be successful and will demonstrate through this project that the One Health Approach does deliver benefits.”

According to Chen Guoqiang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician; Shanghai Jiaotong University, Vice President), Hainan’s theoretical and practical achievements in the “One Health” Approach will be brought about by the province’s preferential policies, which make the island itself a safer and healthier place, and in turn benefit the whole country of China as well as the world.

According to Luo Qingming (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician; Hainan University, President; Hainan Association for Science and Technology, Chairman), the prevention, detection, and handling of Emerging Infectious Diseases depend on the active participation of both technical and executive professionals.

According to Gao Fu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician; Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Director), the implementation of the “One Health” concept calls for smooth communication and the sharing of information. “The Earth is the whole world’s habitat. Therefore, the handling of health matters requires joint efforts to achieve sustainable development.” He added that the Hainan branch of China’s National Tropical Disease Research Center has been unveiled and will keep working on related matters.