(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-12-10 17:24

US Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt visited China Daily website for an exclusive interview by Li Xing, chief of China Daily International Department, at the chinadaily.com.cn office in Beijing December 10, 2007. He also answered some questions submitted by netizens. Leavitt is in Beijing for the China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue.

Li Xing: Hello everyone, and welcome to China Daily online. Today we have the honor to have Mr Michael Leavitt, US Secretary of Health and Human Services to be with us, to chat with Chinese netizens online. Well, here we are. Welcome.

Michael Leavitt : Thank you. I'm pleased to be with you, and also with your readers and viewers.

Li Xing: Well, Mr Leavitt, I know that you have this huge department to lead and your motto is to ensure every American has good health care and every American who is in need gets care. But I know it is a tremendous task, because to be frank, so far the United States has not yet become a role model for other countries to follow as far as a universal heath care system is considered. China, in that way, also has a lot of difficulties. What are the challenges and difficulties that our two countries share?

Michael Leavitt : China and the United States have much in common. One is our aspiration that Americans have access to affordable basic health insurance. Right now there are too many Americans who do not have health insurance and we want to change that.

We also understand the need for us to be helping Americans understand that health care isn't the goal. The goal is health. It isn't to treat people after they're sick, but to keep them healthy. And we want to focus more and more of our efforts on prevention so that we're not having to spend as much and that there's not as much suffering as there currently is.

We know that in the United States and I think this would be true in China and other countries, that a very high percentage of the diseases people suffer from are preventable. And if people eat better diets, if they get screenings for diseases that can be prevented, or at least managed if they get them, that their lives are happier and healthier.

Li Xing: As far as prevention is concerned, Chinese netizens have a question. Chinese medicine is renowned for its preventive effects, but apparently the American authorities still have second thoughts about introducing traditional Chinese medicine to the public.

Michael Leavitt : We have a very well defined system protecting our drug distribution system. For example, we want to assure that anything consumers buy have been tested and have been confirmed safe and effective. There's a lot of interest in traditional Chinese medicine.

When I was in western China I had the chance to go to many different local communities and I would go in to see the doctor and see the pharmacy. We would open up the little drawers and there would be bark and leaves and other kinds of things and the pharmacist would take them over and shave some of them off and show me how they would write a prescription. And I met with a doctor who actually diagnosed – felt my pulse and we talked about my health.

I came away understanding this is a very important part of the way health care is delivered in China. And that when you're dealing with 800 or 900 million people in rural areas, it may be the only practical way.

Now we have at our National Institutes of Health, a center that is interested in alternative medicines. Dr (Andrew) van Eschenbach, who is the head of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) who is a world renowned cancer doctor, and also Dr (Elias) Zerhouni, who is the head of the National Institutes of Health, they both have interest in traditional Chinese medicine. And we've talked about the fact that at some time in the near future we'd like to come to China and explore this more.

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