PLA Daily 2003-06-13

　　BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Dr. David Heymann, World Health Organization (WHO) executive director for communicable diseases, said here Thursday that the SARS-related information offered by China was "informative and complete".

　　Dr. Heymann, speaking at a joint press conference hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the WHO, said the useful information on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) offered by China during his two-day tour reflected China's efforts to control the disease.

　　Five SARS-hit Chinese provincial regions briefed Heymann on their respective SARS situations in detail on Wednesday.

　　The WHO official attributed the rapid drop in SARS cases on the Chinese mainland to the "massive efforts in mobilizing the population" both in urban and rural areas.

　　He said the quick diagnosis of SARS patients and efficient tracing and surveillance activities had led to the rapid drop in SARS cases on the Chinese mainland.

　　In some provinces, Heymann said, the time required to diagnose a SARS patient starting with the onset of symptoms had decreased from four days to one.

　　He said his visit to China was not an "inspection tour" but rather a visit for exchanging views with China on the SARS situation and for assessing the areas in which China needs further support from the WHO.

　　The WHO official said that China's SARS case definition is "compatible" with that of the WHO, and the country's SARS case definition is "more sensitive", resulting in a higher number of suspected SARS cases.

　　He noted that the eventual goal remains to establish a standard SARS case definition worldwide.

　　Gao Qiang, executive vice-minister of health, said that it is difficult to rely only on case definitions to diagnose SARS patients because of the incomplete understanding of the epidemic disease.

　　Gao acknowledged that it is imperative to develop a test kit for a more accurate diagnosis.

　　Heymann said that, from the detailed analysis of fatality rates in Hong Kong and Singapore and from the data examined in Geneva, the WHO has found a strong correlation between fatality rate and age.

　　The WHO believes that the Chinese fatality rate is following the same pattern, Heymann said.

　　The fatality rate for cases under 25 years old is less than one percent, while that for people between 25 and 65 is about five percent. The rate for those over 65 is over 50 percent, the WHO official said.

　　However, due to the larger proportion of younger SARS patients in China, Heymann said, the fatality rate here has been lower than those in other parts of the world.

　　The most important is that the WHO continues with the Chinese government in strengthening the surveillance system and accompanying research, which is necessary to better understand the risk factors for this disease entering the population and how to prevent that in the future, he said.

　　He also stressed the importance of establishing a proper link between hospitals and public health systems, as well as adequate mechanisms for information-sharing between the WHO and the Chinese government.

　　"I was deeply impressed by the confidence which has been established in the last four months between the Chinese government and the WHO," Heymann said, adding that it is very important for the WHO to have confidence in its member states.

　　"With this confidence, we are able to assess together the effectiveness of the activities which have been done in China," said Heymann.

　　He said the decision on whether to lift SARS travel advisories would be made by WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland according to preset standards.

　　The lifting of advisories is contingent upon the number of active SARS cases in certain areas, the number of new cases reported each day in an area, and the number of cases exported from one place to another, the WHO official said.

　　Such decisions are made within a "standard format", he noted, adding that the WHO director general may ask other questions to gather further information.

　　Gao said that the WHO has given a "positive, objective and fair" assessment of China's anti-SARS efforts after a comprehensive and thorough conversation on SARS control with Heymann on Wednesday.

　　Gao said he had discussed measures to prevent a reoccurrence of SARS and methods to improve China's prevention and treatment system for communicable diseases with Dr. Heymann.

　　During the conversation, Gao said, he expressed his thanks to the WHO for its help in China's battle against SARS, saying that China will work in cooperation with the WHO in other areas in addition to SARS control.

　　China intends to cooperate with the WHO on a still broader and deeper level in the hope of improving its public health system, building up a sound public health system in rural areas, and training more qualified medical workers, Gao said.

　　China is striving to prevent a recurrence of the SARS outbreak, Gao said.

　　He said China will collaborate closely with the international community to combat the disease.

　　Gao noted that China and the WHO office in Beijing had shared information effectively and that the Chinese MOH had offered all information available to the WHO office.

　　A deficient disease information network in China had led to inadequate SARS data when the SARS epidemic disease first broke out, Gao admitted.

　　Now the MOH is requiring health-care agencies all over the country to collect and report all SARS-related information, he added, including case tracing data and close contacts.

　　"The data we have provided to the WHO are based on months of work," he said, stressing that the country will continue anti-SARS work so as to avoid a recurrence of the epidemic.

　　"There's much more that remains to be done," Heymann said. The WHO hopes to "constantly obtain data from China," he said.

　　(June 12, Xinhuanet)