Freeman Report November 2005 - Vol. 3, No. 11

November 17, 2005

On October 31, 2005, Chinese Minister of Health Gao Qiang visited Washington. This was the first Chinese Health Minister visit to Washington in more than three years, and culminated a multi-year effort to complete a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a collaborative U.S.-China program to address emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. With negotiations for the MOU first begun in the wake of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in 2003, this recently-concluded agreement is particularly timely given heightened global concern over a potential influenza pandemic emanating from Asia.