On November 28, 2024, the China Health Development Research Center at Peking University was officially approved to become the WHO Collaborating Center for Universal Health Coverage. Professor Ren Minghui, Director of the China Health Development Research Center at Peking University, served as the head of the collaborating center.

Universal health coverage is a key goal of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, countries and international organizations around the world are striving to promote the construction and reform of the healthcare system around the common vision of universal health coverage. The collaborating center will support the World Health Organization in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge, experience, and best practices related to universal health coverage, support countries in the region in developing national strategies or policies for universal health coverage, assist the World Health Organization in building capacity with member states to promote universal health coverage, and provide information for the World Health Organization to develop and promote the concept, vision, technical framework, and guidelines for universal health coverage, as well as other relevant guiding documents.

In the past five years of application preparation, the China Health Development Research Center at Peking University has worked closely with the World Health Organization, especially the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office and its representative office in China, to undertake multiple important projects such as the "WHO Western Pacific Member States Universal Health Coverage Assessment", "Roundtable Forum on a People Centered Integrated Health System Framework", "China's Deepening Healthcare Reform Evaluation", "Building a High Quality and Efficient Medical and Health Service System, Implementing the" Future oriented "Vision, and Realizing Local Pilot Projects for Universal Health Coverage". The center is a member unit of the World Health Organization's Technical Advisor for Universal Health Coverage (UHC TAG). The center's teachers have participated in various consulting activities of the WHO and have published influential research reports such as the China Healthcare Reform Evaluation Album in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). They have also led major projects such as the National Social Science Fund's "Research and Database Construction for Building a Human Health Community", making important contributions to the progress and international dissemination of China's universal health coverage.

At present, the China Health Development Research Center at Peking University is the only WHO Collaborating Center for Universal Health Coverage worldwide. This fully affirms the outstanding achievements and international influence of the center in the research of health policies and systems, and also reflects the high recognition of China's positive progress in the field of universal health coverage, as well as the eager expectation for Chinese academic research institutions to participate in global health governance and promote the global achievement of the goal of universal health coverage. The center will leverage the multidisciplinary advantages of Peking University and Peking University Medical University, as well as the construction of disciplines such as health system reform and governance research. Through the platform of the WHO Collaborating Center, it will contribute Chinese wisdom to the construction of a human health community.