Disease control law yields benefits

China has reaped the benefits from the law on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, according to a report on the enforcement of the law submitted to the top legislature yesterday.

No large-scale outbreaks or epidemics of infectious diseases have been seen in recent years as result of proper prevention and control, said the inspection report, which was submitted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for deliberation at a five-day bimonthly session that runs until Friday.

Wang Chen, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, read the report, which is based on a round of inspections conducted by the top legislature running between May and July in eight provincial-level regions.

China has set up an online infectious disease reporting network, the largest worldwide, which displays all reports from centers for diseases prevention and control at or above county-level nationwide, the report said.

Special subsidies on a number of key programs such as the prevention and control of AIDS, tuberculosis and schistosomiasis increased to 9.6 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in 2017 from 5.6 billion yuan in 2013, along with the country’s growing financial commitment to fight infectious diseases.

The report also mentioned several challenges, including higher dissemination risks due to increased population mobility, deficient quarantine and monitoring on transportation of live animals and birds, and insufficient efforts to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases through unprotected sex.

It suggested that more medical aid should be offered to patients with specific infectious diseases, as well as more investment should be made by the central government to prevent and control infectious diseases in border areas.

It also called for strengthened regulation over vaccines, saying governments and departments of all levels should put the safety and quality of vaccines first.

Official data showed that a total of 19,796 people died from infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in 2017.

The infectious diseases prevention and control law was enacted in 1989 and revised in 2004 and 2013.