Since the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, the China Medical Board (CMB) has been dedicated in identifying effective and meaningful support to China in consultation with the Chinese government, collaborating institutions in China, and international partners. Two priority areas are identified: to protect front-line medical staff and reduce nosocomial infection and to strengthen longer-term capacity in responding to emerging infectious diseases. The Board of CMB is pleased to announce a commitment of US$2 million to improve equipment and facilities of the China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals (the Consortium) and through training, research, and international collaboration to assist China in developing a modern emergency preparedness and response system.

CMB will help the Consortium in strengthening capacity in nosocomial infection control by importing cutting-edge technologies and equipment, aiming at setting a demonstration model for the nation. While all Consortium hospitals have sent their courageous and capable staff to treat severely ill patients in Hubei, it is critically important to enhance protection of their own hospital patients and health workers to stop wider distribution of the coronavirus. After consultation with experts in this field, CMB has purchased air filtration systems designed with globally leading technologies to reduce health threats to hospital staff and patients. CMB will also mobilize its technical and financial resources in promoting local production of decontamination equipment.   

CMB will also support our Chinese partners to conduct research, training, and international collaboration in the field of emerging infectious disease control. This initiative will further promote WHO-UN and U.S.-China collaboration in medical, public health and nursing education and research, and help improve China’s health care system especially strengthen public health capacity to prepare for, prevent, and respond to infectious diseases.

CMB is an American foundation created in 1914 through endowment funds by John D. Rockefeller Senior. CMB is a registered nonprofit organization with headquarter office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a China office in Beijing, and a Southeast Asia office in Bangkok. CMB provides grants and professional technical services in support of medical, nursing, and public health research and education in China and neighboring Asian countries. Since its early days in founding the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), CMB has gifted more than US$1 billion in grants and technical support to medical universities to China and Southeast Asia countries in nearly a century of philanthropy. Recently, in 2015, CMB and PUMC launched the China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals (the Consortium), aiming at improving the quality of graduate education for doctors and nurses and setting a high demonstrative standard for the nation. The 9 members of the Consortium are Peking Union Medical College Hospital; The First Affiliated Hospital, Peking University; Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University; The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University; West China Hospital, Sichuan University; Xiangya Hospital, Central South University; The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University; Queen Mary Hospital, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong; and the Third Affiliated Hospital, Peking University.

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