China’s rise to the world’s second-largest economy has led to a big increase in philanthropy in the country. The elite Tsinghua University Global Family Business Research Center has estimated that China’s philanthropy in 2021 was 35 times that of 2004. Philanthropy has been in focus among well-off Chinese because of the emphasis on “common prosperity” sought by President Xi Jinping. That’s particularly true among the country’s billionaires. The number of mainland Chinese billionaires increased from one at the end of 2003 to 495 on the 2023 Forbes Billionaires List.
Healthcare has been a key focus area for Chinese philanthropists, and one of the strong traits of giving in China is its tendency to follow government policy, Annelotte Walsh, Director of Research at the Centre for Asian Research and Society, told the online Forbes China Healthcare Summit organized by Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes, on Sept. 22.
“We need to really understand philanthropy in a regional context because the models of giving that emerge or are prevalent in the West, are not necessarily the same in Asia,” she said. “The most important point to make is that health philanthropy in China — like all other philanthropy in China — is aligned with government.”
“Philanthropists want to follow the lead. They want to support or align themselves with government initiatives,” said Walsh, a native of the Netherlands who holds a PhD in law from the University of Hong Kong and has worked for 14 years in areas related to private social investment.
CAPS, founded in 2013 in Hong Kong, is funded by donors seeking to “improve the quantity and quality of private social investment in Asia.” That group includes Hang Lung Group Chair Ronnie Chan, Taiwan’s Fubon Group billionaire Daniel Tsai, and South Korea SK Group billionaire Tae-won Chey. CAPS published a detailed report on China Health Philanthropy in 2021.
An example of a popular area of healthcare funding during the second half of the last decade, for instance, was treatments for the poor. “The government was determined to alleviate absolute poverty and understood that health costs keep or drive people into poverty. Philanthropic funding for health care was part of a comprehensive plan.” Walsh noted. Funding commonly took the form of cash payments to support health insurance premiums, pay for medicine not covered by insurance and support the livelihood of patients and their families, she said.
What’s next? Areas that require more attention and financial support includes early detection and screening for diseases including cancer, Walsh noted. Some three million Chinese will die from cancer this year out of an approximately 10 million cancer deaths expected worldwide in 2023.
A chapter of the CAPS health philanthropy report authored by Professor Winnie Yip of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health also cites primary care, elderly care, and support for mental illnesses as needs in the country. Yip wrote that the core challenges to China’s healthcare system are driven by demographic and economic shifts, including a rapidly aging population and widespread demand for high-quality health services. “In the face of these challenges, China endeavors to define the appropriate role for the private sector in supporting a healthy population,” the report said.
Other speakers and participants at the Forbes China Healthcare Summit included Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media; Jing Qian, Co-Founder, Center for China Analysis, Asia Society Policy Institute; Dr. Satish Gopal, Director, Center for Global Health, National Cancer Institute; Dr. Wu Yi-Long, President, Chinese Thoracic Oncology Group; Greg Simon, Inaugural Executive Director, White House Cancer Moonshot; Prof. Olusegun Isaac Alatise, Co-Founder, African Research Group for Oncology; and Dr. Bob T. Li, Physician Ambassador to China and Asia-Pacific, MSK.
Sir Murray Brennan, Senior Vice President, International Programs, MSK; Dr. Peter Kingham, Director, Global Cancer Disparities Initiatives, MSK; Prof. Nick Pavlakis, Chair, Thoracic Oncology Group Australasia; Hope Lewis, Co-Founder and CEO, MORE Health; Zhao Changqing, DU Head Oncology, China Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Novartis; and Victoria Wolodzko Smart, Senior Vice President, Mission, Susan G. Komen. I hosted.
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