Christina Ho, country director of the Clinton Foundation China Program, said a lack of knowledge has led to discrimination against HIV/AIDs patients in China.

She said that as many as 60 per cent of HIV-positive patients have been discriminated against by medical staff.

The other problem these patients face is the lack of second-run drugs.

"A lot of people are developing a resistance to drugs and they need second-run drugs, which are not available or affordable," she said.

She pointed out that HIV-positive people need to take 12 to 14 pills per day.

Bernd Ohnesorge, senior vice-president of Siemens Ltd China and president of Medical Solutions Group Siemens Ltd China, said that as it works toward universal healthcare, China should learn from other countries' experiences.

He pointed out that the UK healthcare system still suffers from a number of challenges in terms of cost availability and long waiting lists.

Ebehard Schrempf, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, said that when talking about health, it is important to not only focus on the medical realm.

"It's not about the health system itself, its about the surrounding things that impact this system," he said, listing concerns such as the environment, traffic and tobacco.

Alexis Vannier, China communication director of PSA Peugeot Citroen, pointed out that while their safety features include emergency call systems in which a deployment of the airbag will send an alert to emergency services in all of their cars sold in Europe, they don't have this feature in China.

"It is not the GPS and GMS; that's not the problem. The problem is that nobody will answer the call from the car because you have an insurance problem," he said.

Ulf Ausprung, general manager, Northeast Asia Strategy, DaimlerChrysler China, echoed these concerns. He said that safety is their top concern. All Mercedes cars have such safety systems in most countries, except where there are regulatory issues.

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