"SARS Experience": China's Response Standards and Changes to Public Health Emergencies
On November 16, 2002, the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was detected in Guangdong, China. In just a few months, SARS spread rapidly and spread to many countries.
According to WHO statistics, as of August 7, 2003, there were a total of 8,422 cases of SARS worldwide, of which 5,327 were cases in China, and 349 died, ranking first in the world.
It is also this year that opened the "first year" of China's modern emergency management system and promoted the leapfrog development and reform of China's emergency management system for public health emergencies.
Northeast Plague
Thinking of Public Health and Epidemic Prevention System
In ancient China, there was no reporting system for infectious diseases. Most historical books described the plague as "no death," "everyone is dead," "ten rooms, nine empty rooms," etc., no specific death records, no epidemiological data, No data shows that people's epidemic prevention actions are all natural processes of spontaneous destruction.
Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Northeast rat epidemic was from 1900 to 1911. As the chief medical officer of the three eastern provinces, Wu Liande adopted the first preventive measures in history and established a response system. The epidemic situation was effectively controlled within four months and the crisis was lifted.
Historically, the epidemic prevention work has achieved very significant results in terms of organizational management, implementation of measures, medical rescue, and quarantine. Officials of the Qing Dynasty initiated and established the "Central Health Association", which was organized at the county and department levels, and all sectors of society responded to the establishment of temporary epidemic prevention committees.
Immediately promulgated epidemic prevention regulations, formulated a strict epidemic report system and inspection and quarantine system, and carried out mandatory preventive measures such as room inspection, quarantine, disinfection, and information registration.
In this successful "war epidemic", people's thoughts on establishing a permanent epidemic prevention organization and a public health epidemic prevention system were evoked.
Outbreak of SARS
Public health emergency mechanism gap
In 2003, the SARS outbreak faced the gaps in the public health emergency mechanism. In order to clarify the data, the relevant departments had to check 175 hospitals in Beijing area above the second level, one by one, to find out all the hospitals in Beijing. Admitted cases.
Until April 1, 2003, Wu Yi, then Vice Premier of the State Council, stated during her inspection of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention that she would promote the establishment of a complete public health emergency mechanism in China. This is the first time that Chinese leaders have publicly proposed the establishment of an emergency mechanism.
On April 20, 2003, Gao Qiang, then Deputy Minister of Health of the People's Republic of China, and Zhu Qingsheng, Deputy Minister of Health announced that the epidemic situation would be changed from the previous five-day report to the one-day report. On the afternoon of the same day, the Xinhua News Agency issued a decision of the CPC Central Committee, removing Zhang Wenkang as the party secretary of the Ministry of Health, and removing Meng Xuenong as the deputy secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee and the standing committee member of the Municipal Party Committee. On April 23, the State Council Headquarters for the Prevention and Treatment of Atypical Pneumonia was established to command and coordinate the prevention and treatment of atypical pneumonia nationwide. At the same time, the central government has established a 2 billion yuan SARS prevention and treatment fund. Since then, the fight against SARS has begun on the right track.
On May 9, 2003, then Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council signed Decree No. 376 of the State Council, promulgating the "Regulations on Public Health Emergencies," to establish a "flow of information, quick response, strong command, and clear responsibilities" in China. Emergency legal system for public health emergencies. The promulgation and implementation of the "Regulations" marks that China's emergency response to public health emergencies has been brought into the legalized track, and the emergency response mechanism for public health emergencies has been further improved.
This regulation, which is considered to be the "turning point in public health," has only been separated for more than 20 days from the drafting of the motion to its formal release and implementation, creating the "SARS speed" of Chinese legislation.
On June 24, 2003, the World Health Organization announced that it would lift its travel warning to Beijing and exclude Beijing from the SARS list. From the establishment of the National SARS Command to the World Health Organization's announcement of "double elimination", China's SARS epidemic took only two months.
After SARS, China's public management system has continuously developed and matured in the baptism of various emergencies such as natural disasters, safety accidents, public health incidents and social security incidents, achieving a historic leap.
Ten years after SARS
11.7 billion yuan in system construction
"SARS is like a mirror that suddenly reflects many long-neglected public health issues," said Hu Yonghua, a professor at the School of Public Health at Peking University. "But it is also an opportunity and an opportunity for China's public health undertakings to develop."
After SARS, the nation ’s public health system has begun to build on an unprecedented scale. The government invested 11.7 billion yuan in hardware facilities for disease control and the construction of a negative pressure ward dedicated to receiving patients with respiratory infectious diseases, which is a typical example of hardware equipment upgrades. After ten years of development, negative pressure wards have not only gained popularity in hospitals, but some cities have also been equipped with negative pressure ambulances to minimize the chance of infection by medical staff.
Zeng Guang, chief scientist of the epidemic of the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mentioned in an interview that the most effective in hardware construction is the construction of an information reporting system. Zeng Guang described the status of the information reporting system in the 1990s: "At that time, the annual National Epidemic Situation Meeting was an accounting meeting, and participants from all provinces brought their own calculations, which was quite backward."
A few years after SARS, under the leadership of the former Ministry of Health, a public health monitoring and early warning system was established nationwide, and a rigorous information reporting system was formed. The most worth mentioning is the direct report system of the outbreak. This information system covers the central, provincial, city, county and township administrative agencies and can report public health emergencies in 31 provinces across the country directly to the central government.
In the ten years since SARS, China has revised related laws such as the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, and the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law. These laws have begun to play a role in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
After SARS, China has experienced public health emergencies such as bird flu and H1N1 influenza. China's disease prevention and control system has evolved from exhaustion to calm response, from passive confrontation to active attack, from individual warfare to multi-party cooperation, and a nationwide disease prevention and control and infectious disease treatment system has been formed.
In 2009, following successive outbreaks of H1N1 in Mexico and the United States, the Chinese government made timely reports on domestic conditions and emergency measures taken, which is helpful to avoid social panic. The former Ministry of Health immediately instructed localities to do a good job in preventing and controlling human infection with swine flu. It can be said that influenza A H1N1 flu has not caused much panic in China. To a certain extent, it benefits from the timely and comprehensive information disclosure system and the Chinese government's adequate, complete, and rapid emergency warning and handling mechanism.
National Alliance against New Crown Pneumonia
China builds "first line of defense" for the world
In January 2020, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia outbreak, and Chinese governments at all levels immediately adopted strict prevention and control measures to curb the spread of the epidemic.
At the beginning of the outbreak, the National Health and Medical Commission issued Announcement No. 1 to timely incorporate new crown pneumonia into the Class B infectious diseases stipulated in the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, and take preventive and control measures for Class A infectious diseases.
Immediately, first-level responses to major public health emergencies were initiated in various parts of the country. Provincial headquarters organized and coordinated emergency response work within their respective administrative regions in accordance with the country's decision-making arrangements and unified command. Various localities have issued emergency notices to prohibit group gatherings and group activities for group gatherings. Subsequently, more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country have implemented closed community management: property management companies work closely with streets and communities to strictly implement access control to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission caused by staff movement.
The Ministry of Education has continuously issued notices, comprehensively deployed and coordinated the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the education system, and the reform and development of education.
A series of strict prevention and control measures adopted by China have effectively curbed the spread of the epidemic. The WHO expert team believes that China's non-drug outbreak prevention and control measures and experience are "invaluable" to health systems and low-income countries with weaker response capabilities. WHO officials commented that China has provided important experience in identifying cases and contacts, patient care and management, how to prepare hospitals and personal protective equipment, and infection prevention and control.
Regarding the huge cost and sacrifice of China's economic and people's lives, the WHO praised that China has established the first line of defense to prevent the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic to spread internationally. The experience of China's epidemic prevention and control has been learned by various countries, and it can become the second line of defense in the international fight against new crown pneumonia.
references:
"The more strenuous the epidemic prevention and control, the more you must adhere to the law-see through the" battle epidemic "in laws and regulations such as the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" 2020/02/10 Xinhua
"SARS" Ten Years of Public Governance System Reform (3) 2013/6/18 Xue Lan Liu Bing Learning Times
"Why the National Infectious Diseases Network Direct Reporting System Built by the State after SARS Was Not Launched in Time" 2020/02/08 Liu Yuhai Qu Yixian Economic Observation Network
"Emergency Response and Safety Education" Wang Wei, Xu Jun, Liao Haibo, Pan Hongtao
"Being brave in the face of SARS-China's emergency response to public health emergencies" 2013/2/19
"Extreme speed in extraordinary times-<Public Health Emergency Response Regulations" promulgated 2003/10 Maojialiang
"Post-SARS, the Value of Ten Years" 2014/06/23 Lu Tianling Chen Shasha People's Livelihood Weekly
"What are the first-level responses in 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities? 》 2020/01/25 People's Network
West China Metropolis Daily-Cover News reporter Jian Tingting Liu Haoyang