Table 1 Selected cases

Medical financial assistance in the Basic Health Services Project supported by the World Bank, DFID, and other donors (1998–2007)

This project focused on 97 impoverished rural counties in ten underdeveloped provinces in China, targeting around 43 million people. DFID supported the BHSP through a Health 8 Support Project with a grant equivalent to 16% of total project costs. The Ministry of Health was in charge of implementing the project. One of the project’s components is the medical financial assistance scheme. This scheme partially reimbursed providers for healthcare services and inpatient care within participating townships. Specifically, it covered the poorest 5% of households in 71 counties and the poorest 20% of households in additional 26 counties

The medical financial assistance scheme implemented by this project was the first large-scale experiment in China aimed at establishing a health safety net for impoverished populations. It has proved to be one of the significant drivers in shaping the initial policy formulation on national rural medical assistance around 2003 and subsequently contributed to the refinement of this policy during the national healthcare reform in 2009. The national medical assistance program has now been integrated into the social assistance scheme implemented by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Institutionalized throughout the country, it achieved broader and more effective coverage than the project

Civil society engagement in the HIV/AIDS Rolling Continuation Channel supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2010–2013)

The Global Fund has been the foremost and enduring donor for HIV/AIDS and played a pivotal role in fostering the growth of HIV/AIDS civil society organizations in China since 2003. The Rolling Continuation Channel was the last Global Fund grant that consolidated previous rounds, integrating international and domestic resources to ensure program sustainability. The project, spanning 31 provinces in China, employed a multisectoral governance mechanism and promoted institutional capacity building for HIV/AIDS civil societies. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention was the Principal Recipient of the project

The project provided a model of civil society engagement and HIV/AIDS program management for China’s HIV/AIDS response, leaving significant legacies for the post-transition programs, China AIDS Fund for Non-Governmental Organizations and subnational government contracting. However, it failed to fully strengthen HIV/AIDS civil society organizations in China for their sustainable post-transition operations amid government dominance. While post-transition management has been stricter and improved, they primarily focus on target-oriented testing and treatments. Survived civil society organizations have largely become “passive helpers” constrained by government requests