On December 6 and 7, Prof Chuanrong Li (vice president of Academy of Opto-Electronics (AOE), CAS) & Prof Lingli Tang (director of Earth Observation Technology Application Department (ETA) of Academy of Opto-Electronics, CAS) were invited by French Embassy to take part in the “Séminaire franco-chinois sur le spatial pour les applications liées à la santé” (i.e. “France-China Seminar on Space Technology Applications in Health-related Fields”) held in Beijing. The conference was jointly sponsored by the French Embassy and the Chinese Society of Astronautics, and attracted more than 30 delegates who come from CNES (i.e. National Center for Space Studies of France), French Embassy (science counselor and social affairs counselor being present), University of Strasbourg (France), Emergency Center in French Guiana, France-China First-aid & Hazard Medical Training Center, Chinese Society of Astronautics, Academy of Opti-Electronics (of Chinese Academy of Sciences), Institute of Remote Sensing Applications (of Chinese Academy of Sciences), National Disaster Reduction Center (of Ministry of Civil Affairs of China), Remote Sensing Technology Application Research Center (of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research), China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application, National Institute of Parasitic Disease (of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Beijing Normal University, etc. The goal of the seminar is to better understand the application potential of space technology in human health and well-being, enhance scientific and technical collaboration between Chinese and French researchers in interdisciplinary studies, and provide new impetus for China-France cooperation.

Prof Chuanrong Li gave an oral report named as “Opportunities and Challenges: Applications of Space Technology in Monitoring and Early-warning of Epidemic Diseases in China”, which mainly introduced two achievements and one working plan: (a) inverse method studies on environmental factors related to epidemic/infectious disease vectors using multi-source remote sensing data performed by ETA of AOE. (b) Identification and prediction of high-risk areas of schistosomiasis in Dongting Lake region conducted collaboratively by AOE and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (c) AOE’s work plan of using data mining technique to carry out monitoring and warning method studies on Chinese vector-type epidemic/infectious diseases, which is proposed in the “ESA-MOST Dragon 3 Cooperation Programme” project. Prof Li’s report demonstrated powerful application potentials of earth observing remote sensing technology in Chinese epidemic/infectious diseases control and prevention, and obtained enthusiastic response of the participants.

China and France have motivated quite a few cooperation projects applying space technology to human health field. On the basis of previous work, this seminar achieved the purpose of better understanding and communication on both sides’ demands and potential on the human health applications of space technology, and can generate new cooperation opportunities in this research field for Chinese and French specialists and researchers.