On December 3 and 4, 2021, the 2^nd Forum on Public Health and Healthy China in the Greater Bay Area was held by the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) School of Public Health and Emergency Management and the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association (CPMA) in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

This event was co-organized by the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Shenzhen CDC) and the Shenzhen Luohu Hospital Group. The theme of the forum was “Strengthening the Public Health System for Building a Healthy China”.

In the opening ceremony, Yuyang JIANG, Chairman of the Shenzhen Science and Technology Association, and Hongyan WU, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission, gave welcoming speeches. Dongfeng GU, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Acting Vice President of SUSTech and Vice President of the CPMA, Academician Fu GAO, Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Academician Jing CHENG, Professor of Tsinghua University, Academician Hongbing SHEN, Deputy Director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, and Xizhuo SUN, President of Shenzhen Luohu Hospital Group, gave keynote speeches.

The forum included three sub-sessions to discuss novel approaches and recent achievements in promoting public health for building a healthy China during the COVID-19 outbreak and normalization period, with topics ranging from infectious and chronic disease prevention and control, big data applications in health care and artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical medicine, as well as environmental and nutritional health.

Other experts, including Chuang LI, Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health Committee, Yuhui ZHANG, Deputy Director of the Hainan Provincial Health Commission, Qingshan GENG, Dean of the First Affiliated Hospital of SUSTech (Shenzhen People’s Hospital), Hongzhou LU, Dean of the Second Affiliated Hospital of SUSTech (Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital), and Jianan WANG, President of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, presented their work related to the policy and implementation path towards a healthy Shenzhen and China, the national health and service system, heart disease prevention and treatments, and other medical topics.

Other scholars from well-known universities and institutes, including Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Sun Yat-sen University, University of Hong Kong, and China Medical University, also discussed chronic disease prevention and control and big data in the forum.

Through this forum, the SUSTech School of Public Health and Emergency Management established a platform to promote academic exchanges and share cutting-edge research in the field of public health, experiences in infectious disease prevention and control, and the technology behind the prevention and management of chronic diseases. The new knowledge shared in this forum will help to strengthen the public health system in China and eventually benefit the development of the Great Bay Area and the whole country.

During the forum, Dongfeng GU was elected as the second chairman of the Branch of Heart Disease Prevention and Control of the CPMA. In his inaugural speech, Academician GU stated that they would continue to focus on the healthy China 2030 development goals and carry out cardiovascular disease prevention and control work in the next five years. He hoped that the committee members would keep on high-quality scientific research, focus on the cultivation of young talents, and continue their hard work in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.