Photo taken on May 20, 2021 shows the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. [Photo/Xinhua]

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today on its official website that it has appointed Martin Taylor as its new representative to China.

Taylor has over two decades of experience in global health and development, and previously lived and worked in China for eight years.

"In the coming years, cooperation between WHO and China will have a vital influence on the health and well-being of 1.4 billion Chinese people and beyond. Bringing deep public health expertise and experience in China, Martin Taylor's appointment as the new WHO representative will help to strengthen and expand our collaborative partnership," said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO's acting regional director for the Western Pacific.

"China is a very important player in global health and for the achievement of SDG3 — the global sustainable development goal to ensure health and well-being for all by 2030," Taylor said. "As agreed in the WHO-China Country Cooperation Strategy 2022-2026, WHO will continue to work closely with the government and partners to support implementation of the Healthy China 2030 agenda and the achievement of universal health coverage to benefit the population of China; meanwhile, we'll continue to work together with China to promote health for all globally."

Taylor expressed his enthusiasm for supporting implementation of Healthy China 2030. He highlighted his focus on addressing risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets and insufficient physical activity. Taylor also expressed a commitment to continuing collaboration on infectious diseases like TB, hepatitis and HIV/AIDS, along with a keen interest in strengthening healthcare delivery and public health and emergency systems.

The focus of Taylor's career to date has been on working closely with governments to strengthen health systems. Before taking up the role of WHO representative to China, he served as the director of health systems and services for the WHO in the Western Pacific region, based in Manila, Philippines. In that capacity, he led the organization's work in the region on health financing, health legislation, workforce development, primary healthcare, healthcare delivery, rehabilitation, essential medicines, vaccines and other technologies, traditional medicine, maternal and child health, and quality of healthcare including infection prevention and control.

Taylor has also advised the Australian development cooperation program in Papua New Guinea on public health and healthcare issues, and earlier in his career worked on healthcare reform in Central Asia and Eastern Europe for the U.K. Department for International Development. He was part of the team that established the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2002.

Taylor's first time working in China was for the U.K. Department for International Development, when he led the U.K.'s cooperation with China on public health from 2003 to 2007. He returned to China from 2013 to 2017, when he led the WHO China team working on health systems and health security.

Educated at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Taylor's academic background is in social anthropology, health policy, planning and financing.

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