NANNING — The third China-ASEAN Health Cooperation Forum opened on Nov 24 in Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The forum proposed the continued support of the World Health Organization to play a leading role in global health governance, improving and deepening the new long-term cooperation mechanism between China and ASEAN in disease prevention and control and strengthening cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in jointly responding to public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 epidemic.

Since the first forum in 2016, China and ASEAN countries have cooperated effectively in fields like infectious disaster control, traditional medicine, the health industry, human resources, and hospital management, Ma Xiaowei, head of the National Health Commission, said while addressing the forum via video link.

Facing the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, China and ASEAN have worked together to make contributions to the global fight against the pandemic, said Huang Junhua, vice-chairman of Guangxi.

"We look forward to taking advantage of the forum to further improve the China-ASEAN health cooperation mechanism and deepen our cooperation in the fight against COVID-19," said Hang.

The two-day event is hosted both online and offline by China's National Health Commission, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the regional government of Guangxi.