Plague, cholera, AIDS under control in China

BEIJING - China has effectively brought the spread of major infectious diseases, such as plague, cholera and AIDS, under control, a white paper said Wednesday.

Titled "Medical and Health Services in China," the white paper was released by the Information Office of the State Council, or China's Cabinet.

China has basically brought under control the epidemics of diseases such as plague, cholera, kala-azar and leprosy since the 1950s, and in 2011, the morbidity of Class A and B infectious diseases was kept at a low level - 241.4 per 100,000 people, the white paper said.

China attained the goal of eliminating poliomyelitis in 2000. In 2002, the government decided to include hepatitis B vaccination for the newborn in the national immunization program, the white paper said.

In 2011, China's living HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients were estimated at 780,000, far below the ceiling China has set to control the HIV-infected population within 1.5 million, according to the white paper.

The morbidity of infectious tuberculosis has fallen to only 66 per 100,000 people, attaining the goal defined in the UN Millennium Development Goals ahead of time, the white paper said.

Moreover, the central government has organized 27 teams for health emergencies to respond to four categories of incidents, namely, infectious disease control, medical rescue, poisoning treatment, and nuclear and radiation accident handling, the document said.

In the past few years, China has successfully dealt with many public health emergencies, especially pandemic threats of infectious diseases, including SARS, H1N1, plague and avian influenza, carried out urgent medical rescues for the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, 2010 Yushu earthquake in Qinghai Province and 2010 Zhouqu mudslide in Gansu Province, and provided medical services for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai Expo, the white paper noted.