| At the beginning of the founding of People's Republic of China, infectious diseases, such as smallpox, plague, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, measles, diphtheria, pertussis, meningitis, mumps, schistosomiasis, Kala Azar, hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis, encephalitis B, typhus, malaria, Kala Azar, leprosy, scarlet fever and pinkeye, remained as epidemic in the country and endangered people's health. During the past 70 years, the Chinese government spent huge efforts in infectious disease prevention and treatment by promulgating and implementing series of relative policies, laws and strategies, and also encouraged all Chinese people to participate in. The achievements of these efforts in controlling infectious disease epidemic were extremely successful. Today, the outbreaks and epidemic of infectious diseases in China were rarely happened with the rapid decreases in incidence and mortality rates of all notifiable infectious diseases. Smallpox was eradicated, and polio, filariasis, leprosy and neonatal tetanus were nearly eradicated. In addition, the incidence rates of vaccine-preventable diseases, i.e. measles, diphtheria, pertussis, meningitis, encephalitis B, hepatitis A, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, were dramatically decreased and remained at relatively low levels for years. The incidence and prevalence rates of hepatitis B infection in Children decreased significantly and reached the phase objectives. Moreover, incidence rates of natural iatrogenic infectious diseases, i.e. diarrhea, typhoid and other intestinal infectious diseases, leptospirosis and schistosomiasis, and vectorborne diseases, i.e. typhus, malaria, Kala Azar, reached the lowest and some even closed to be eliminated in China. In general, infectious diseases dropped to the tenth from the top one leading cause of all deaths, which means that the achievement of Chinese infectious disease prevention and treatment strategies contributed tremendously in improving Chinese people's health status and life expectancy. |
