Unsupported browser detected

Your browser appears to be unsupported. Because of this, portions of the site may not function as intended.

Please install a current version of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari for a better experience.


China

China

  • Addressing domestic health and development challenges
  • Contributing to global health and development
  • China's Leadership in the Global Malaria Elimination Effort
  • Supporting China’s COVID-19 Response
  • Supporting Tuberculosis Prevention and Control
  • Strengthening global health innovation
  • Supporting the development and commercialization of reinvented toilets
  • Helping West African countries strengthen rice seed systems
  • Creating an innovative collaboration model for global health drug discovery
  • Exploring malaria prevention and control strategies adaptable to African countries​
  • Facilitating financing and payment innovations to reduce catastrophic expenditure for TB patients
  • Ensuring equitable access to HPV vaccination
  • Partnering with the private sector to expand access to voluntary family planning among women in poverty
  • Promoting innovation of affordable technologies through co-funded projects
  • Advancing global health innovation, equity, and accessibility
  • Advancing philanthropic development and collaboration
  • Driving agricultural development to alleviate poverty in African countries
  • Facilitating innovation and exchanges in development cooperation
  • Home
  • Our work
  • China
  • Contributing to global health and development
China

Contributing to global health and development

With its growing capacity for innovation and expanding commitment to global engagement, China has become an increasingly effective global development partner. We are working to support China as it applies its expertise, experience, and resources for the benefit of the world’s poorest people, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa.
Malaria control

Malaria control

We help accelerate the introduction of high-quality, low-cost Chinese-made anti-malarial products into the global market, along with the sharing of China’s expertise in malaria control.

Malaria patients rest under insecticide treated nets at a health center in Pwani Region, Tanzania. The health center participates in the China-UK-Tanzania Malaria Control Pilot Project.
Malaria patients rest under insecticide treated nets at a health center in Pwani Region, Tanzania. The health center participates in the China-UK-Tanzania Malaria Control Pilot Project.

In 2019, nearly 230 million people worldwide are infected with malaria, and more than 400,000 die as a result. More than 90 percent of cases and deaths occur in Africa. Malaria remains a leading cause of death for pregnant women and for children under age 5.

Over the past 60 years, China has reduced malaria cases within its borders from 30 million a year to zero—an incredible achievement that highlights the depth of experience China brings to this issue. We believe that China, aiming to meet its goal of eliminating malaria by 2021, can take on a global leadership role in malaria control and elimination.

We work with partners in China to accelerate the introduction of high-quality, low-cost Chinese-made malaria commodities into the global market, expand China’s role in bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to help fill the gap in funding and expertise, and facilitate the sharing of China’s malaria control experience in regions with high malaria incidence.

Malaria program strategies overview
Learn more about the foundation’s global efforts in malaria eradication
Read the Malaria strategy overview
Agricultural development

Agricultural development

We support China in sharing its experience, expertise, and resources to become a stronger partner for Africa’s agricultural transformation.

A Tanzanian farmer in a demonstration field for the China-Tanzania Agricultural Cooperation project.
A Tanzanian farmer in a demonstration field for the China-Tanzania Agricultural Cooperation project.

Agricultural development offers a path out of poverty for millions of people, as China and many other countries have shown in recent decades. In particular, China's agricultural research and technology institutions have a wealth of expertise and innovation that can be applied to pressing needs in Africa and beyond. Approaches ranging from crop improvement and livestock vaccines to technology adoption and effective delivery strategies have the potential to improve food security and nutrition, increase the incomes of millions of farming families, and help mitigate the effects of climate change.

We work with China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, other government agencies, and the private sector to develop and transfer relevant technologies, approaches, and models that are in high demand in low-income countries through both bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

global efforts in agricultural development
Learn more about the foundation's global efforts in agricultural development
Read the Agricultural Development strategy overview
Health product innovation and regulatory improvement

Health product innovation and regulatory improvement

We help China improve its health innovation ecosystem so more innovative, affordable health products can reach and benefit the poorest communities in the world.  

Health Product Innovation and Regulatory Improvement
Source: GHDDI

With its growing health R&D and manufacturing capabilities, China is uniquely positioned to help improve the quality and lower the cost of drugs, contraceptives, and other much-needed health products for use in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

We work with the Chinese government, the private sector, and global health partners to identify, develop, and deliver these high-quality, low-cost health products so developing countries can address endemic diseases and other urgent health needs. These products include Japanese encephalitis vaccines, inactivated polio vaccines, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to prevent cervical cancer, and artemisinin combination therapies for malaria.

We partnered with the Beijing Municipal Government and Tsinghua University to launch the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) in Beijing, which aims to create a world-class drug discovery and translational medicine platform for global health with advanced biomedical R&D capabilities.

In collaboration with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), we launched the Grand Challenges China program to jointly select and fund scientific and technological research projects focused on tackling major infectious diseases; reducing maternal and child mortality; strengthening translational science capacity; advancing agriculture, food, and nutrition outcomes; and alleviating challenges in other key areas in China and around the world.

We also work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to provide technical assistance and other support to Chinese regulatory bodies so they can better align Chinese regulations and standards with international requirements. This will enable more high-quality, affordable Chinese-made health products to quickly attain WHO prequalification and become accessible to the developing world.

Transformative sanitation technologies

Transformative sanitation technologies

We work with Chinese government agencies and researchers to fund the development and implementation of cutting-edge sanitation technologies that can benefit people in China and around the world.

transformative sanitation technologies
Latrines produced by the CRRC Corporation Ltd. in Beijing.

Improved sanitation is essential to a healthy and sustainable future for the developing world. Improvements to the management of human waste can avert hundreds of thousands of deaths each year from sicknesses such as diarrhea and greatly reduce environmental contamination.

We work with Chinese partners across the public and private sectors to develop and spur demand for transformative sanitation technologies, identify new delivery models, build markets, and advocate for public policies that support improved sanitation in China and around the world.

In 2011, we launched the global Reinvent the Toilet Challenge to fund research and pilot testing of sanitation inventions, including low-water or waterless toilets that do not require a sewer connection or electricity and cost around 0.3 Chinese yuan (five U.S. cents) per user per day.

Two years later, we joined with the University of Science and Technology Beijing to bring the challenge to China.

A view of a public toilet at Gugulethu Primary School in KwaMashu outside of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on September 19, 2018.
Learn more about the foundation's global sanitation efforts
Read the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene strategy overview
Sign up for The Optimist newsletter
Subscribe to The Optimist to get weekly updates on the latest in global health, gender equality, education, and more.
Invalid Recaptcha, Please try again

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service apply. By submitting your email to subscribe, you agree to the Gates Foundation's Privacy & Cookies Notice

Gates Foundation
We are a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world.
  • About
  • Our work
  • Ideas
  • About
  • Our work
  • Ideas
  • Contact
  • Media Center
  • Careers
  • Discovery Center
  • Give with us
  • Goalkeepers
  • Reporting scams
  • Ethics reporting
  • Privacy & Cookies Notice
  • Terms of Use
  • Brand guidelines
  • Vendors
2025 Gates Foundation. All rights reserved.