Trends in global health research among universities in China: a bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND: There has been considerable progress in developing global health education and research in China. Nevertheless, evidence of the progress of Chinese universities' contributions to global health research is limited. More efforts are needed to depict the progress Chinese universities have collectively made in advancing the field of global health. This study aimed to examine Chinese universities' collective contributions to global health research by describing the longitudinal trends in global health research publications, uncovering research themes in global health, and exploring collaboration patterns. METHODS: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted for original research studies of the ten founding members of the China Consortium of Universities for Global Health, one of the largest networks of global health research and education in China. RESULTS: We found that (1) the number of research publications in the field of global health has steadily increased from 2014 to 2020, (2) non-communicable disease was the most popular research topic, accounting for over one-third of total publications, followed by maternal and child health and neurological and mental disorders and diseases, (3) less than one-fifth of papers involved primary data collection, with the majority of the study populations from low-income and lower-middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, and (4) a sizable collaboration network has been established with co-authors from over 200 oversea universities or organizations, with about one third from the US. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a variety of challenges and barriers, Chinese universities have been playing an increasingly important role in global health research as assessed by peer-reviewed publications over the last decade. More concerted efforts by multiple stakeholders, including government, private sectors, funding agencies, academic institutions, and researchers, are needed to advance the development of global health research in China.

COVID-19 in China: the role and activities of Internet-based healthcare platforms.

In the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese Government has enhanced its use of Internet-based healthcare. A large number of online medical platforms designed for COVID-19 have emerged in China. These platforms can be categorized according to the entity operating them, mainly the government, hospitals, and companies. Online medical platforms run by public hospitals provide follow-up consultations for common ailments and frequent ailments based on the hospital's offline services. Online diagnosis and treatment platforms provided by companies cover most of the regions in China. In terms of offering pandemic-related services, corporate platforms provide at least 1,636,440 doctors for online care, 1.685 billion consultations, and 109 million remote consultations. In terms of regular medical care, those platforms provide at least 940,182 doctors for online care and 13.7 million remote consultations; more than 84,916 specialists have provided online care during this period. During the prevention and control of this epidemic, online diagnosis and treatment has filled the gap of family doctors in epidemic prevention and control, it has reduced the chance of cross-infection of patients with a mild infection, and it has overcome the geographical limitations of medical resources. However, online diagnosis and treatment still faces challenges in terms of resource allocation and industry supervision.