ABSTRACT
China has initiated ambitious health reforms since 2009. At the heart of this movement has been the reconstruction of a national primary health care system as well as a bolstering of insurance programmes targeting low-income citizens (Süssmuth-Dyckerhoff and Wang 2010). Specifically, the New Cooperative Medical Schemes (NCMS) substantially increased the level of health insurance coverage for the poor. Furthermore, the Chinese central government declared that the development of a national essential medicines system was a top priority in the reforms (The State Council of China 2009). This effort was strengthened by the National Essential Medicines Policy, which strives to make costeffective medicines more accessible (WHO 2001).
