Red Star News:

At the end of last year, the General Office of the State Council issued guidelines to promote the high-quality development of disease prevention and control. What progress has been made in the past six months? Going forward, what plans and considerations does the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration (NDCPA) have for promoting high-quality development of disease prevention and control? Thank you.

Lei Haichao:

I'll invite Mr. Wang Hesheng to answer this question.

Wang Hesheng:

Thank you for the question. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to disease prevention and control, and have made major strategic plans to reform and improve the disease control system. The NDCPA has resolutely implemented these plans and, together with relevant departments, has guided and promoted the implementation of the guidelines in various regions, achieving positive outcomes, particularly in the three aspects of system reshaping, mechanism innovation and capacity enhancement.

First, initial success has been achieved in system reshaping. Disease control and prevention bureaus have been established at all levels, and national and provincial centers for disease control and prevention have incorporated the Academy of Preventive Medicine. Two national key laboratories and nine key laboratories of the commission have been restructured and established, and 15 national regional public health centers have been designed and constructed, basically forming a fully functional disease control system with effective coordination at different levels. The strength of the professional team has also been significantly boosted. By the end of 2023, the number of professionals in disease control and supervision nationwide reached 305,000, an increase of 14% from 2019. The proportion of personnel with bachelor's degrees or above in the disease control professional team reached 61.7%, an increase of 15.6 percentage points from 2019. The proportion of senior professional and technical positions at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) increased to 55%, with the proportion at the 24 provincial centers reaching more than 40%.

Second, working mechanisms have been constantly improved through innovation. We have optimized the joint epidemic prevention and control mechanism, applied the joint mechanism previously used during the COVID-19 pandemic to the prevention and control of emerging and major infectious diseases, and continuously adjusted and improved the organizational structure and operational mode of the mechanism. Recently, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions on the public health emergency response mechanism for infectious diseases. We have also developed new mechanisms for enhancing coordination between disease prevention and control agencies and hospitals, and formulated a list of 33 responsibilities for medical institutions in infectious disease prevention and control, ensuring that they fully shoulder their share of responsibilities in this regard. The pilot program for the disease control supervisor system in medical institutions has been expanded to all provinces. We have carried out a series of pilot schemes that focus on the coordination between disease prevention and control agencies and hospitals, the integration between disease prevention and control agencies and hospitals, as well as the prescription rights of public health physicians. Our efforts aim to guide all localities to take the initiative in advancing further collaboration between disease prevention and control agencies and hospitals so that they form synergy. We have also intensified the mechanism for talent cultivation. We have implemented support programs to nurture high-end public health professionals, selecting a group of leading experts at the national level every year. The chief expert system has been implemented in the China CDC and 15 provincial CDCs, with individuals appointed to lead various public health fields. We have also worked with the Ministry of Education to set up high-level public health schools at 18 universities across the country.

Third, core capacity has been continuously enhanced. This year, we carried out a campaign in the medical and healthcare sector to enhance professional core capabilities. In terms of monitoring and early warning, we have applied a national intelligent monitoring and early warning software for infectious diseases in all secondary and tertiary public medical institutions, in a bid to facilitate information communication between disease prevention and control agencies and hospitals. In terms of epidemiological investigation, more than 4,000 on-site epidemiological investigation professionals have been trained with the funds from the central budget. We organized a national vocational skills competition for on-site epidemiological investigation, attracting more than 30,000 participants. In terms of testing and inspection, we have established an advanced pathogen detection system, which can confirm more than 300 known pathogens within 24 hours and effectively identify emerging pathogens within 60 hours. At present, biosafety level 3 laboratories have been built in 23 provinces, and all the provincial-level and 90% of municipal-level CDCs are able to detect and isolate viruses. In terms of emergency response, the number of national prevention and control teams for sudden and acute infectious diseases is expected to reach 25, and grassroots emergency response groups have been set up in all cities and counties across the country.

For the next step, we will earnestly implement the deployments outlined at the 20th CPC National Congress and the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, assess our work done during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), and prepare to set the goals and tasks for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30). We will continuously optimize strategies and measures for infectious disease prevention and control, and step up efforts to improve the scientific research system for infectious disease prevention and control and public health care, which applies to both regular cases and emergency responses. We will constantly strengthen core capabilities and advance the modernization of disease prevention and control work through high-quality development, in a bid to safeguard public health as well as economic and social development. Thank you.

Xing Huina:

One last question, please.