Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, sees the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation as a chance to promote joint work by the WHO and China that will in turn benefit countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

In January, at WHO headquarters in Geneva, President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the WHO and China on their joint work.

That was the fruit of a highly successful partnership between the two working on global health, Chan said. China's help included sending 1,200 medical workers to West Africa in 2014 in response to the Ebola crisis, contributing to WHO efforts to distribute medical supplies in Syria and playing a role in the newly created WHO Emergency Medical Teams, which aim at ensuring more flexible and rapid responses to disease outbreaks and disasters, she said.