China alliance hopes to boost vaccine access
Eleven civic societies, including the China
Medical Association, the China Medical Doctor Association, and the China
Medical Women's Association, launched the China Alliance for Vaccines &
Immunization on Friday to enhance Chinese and foreign children's access to
vaccinations.
Despite tremendous progress in immunizing
children worldwide, more than 20 million children do not receive essential
vaccines globally, according to the World Health Organization.
China has a unique role to play in
supporting global immunization efforts, said Lei Zhenglong, deputy director of
the Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control at National Health and Family
Planning Commission.
“Immunization requires continuous
commitment and there are still challenges that we need to address for China’s
immunization program”, he said, adding that immunization needs a joint effort
beyond just government.
“Civic societies can leverage their
diversity and flexibility to play a bigger role in the future,” he noted.
The alliance includes community
organizations, professional associations, academic institutions and
organizations representing affected population groups and will work to
cultivate greater partnership in China and other countries, said Cheng Feng,
vice-president of the Global Health Strategies initiative.
“The global community has a responsibility
to reach all children, everywhere, with the vaccines they need, and China is an
important part of such efforts,” he said.
Given its experience and expertise in
immunization, China has an opportunity to draw from its success and help the
world achieve goals for universal access to immunization, he added.
The alliance will also explore
opportunities to promote the adoption of quality and affordable vaccines made
in China, he said.
Last month, the first Chinese-made vaccine
achieved WHO pre-qualification and met international standards for quality,
safety and efficacy.
That status allows the Chinese manufacturer
to sell its vaccine against Japanese encephalitis to international agencies to
be used in low-income countries.
Source: China Daily
Infectious diseases kill 1200 Chinese a month
A total of 1,272 people died of infectious
diseases on the Chinese mainland in October, the National Health and Family
Planning Commission announced on Monday.
A total of 549,135 infectious disease cases
were reported on the Chinese mainland last month, it said.
Among them, five cases of cholera were
reported, but none resulted in death. Plague and cholera are categorized as
Class A infectious diseases, the most serious category.
In addition, about 285,020 cases were identified
as Class B infectious diseases. Hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery
and gonorrhea accounted for 95 percent of the cases in this category, the
statement said.
It added that category C infectious
diseases claimed 10 lives in October, with foot-and-mouth disease, infectious
diarrhea and mumps reported most frequently.
Source: Xinhua
China’s family planning policy has improved child and maternal health
On the 40th anniversary of China population control
program, National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesman Mao Qun-an
said family planning had reduced population growth by 400 million people,
greatly reducing stress on environment and society.
Family planning has ensured our rapid population growth has been
effectively controlled, he said. China's
birth rate has fallen from 33% in 1970 to 12% in 2012, half of the world
average. Over the same period, women's total fertility rate dropped from 5.8 in
1970 to 1.6, reaching the same level of developed countries.
"China's population reproduction pattern has changed from a
traditional high birth rate and infant mortality to a low birth rate and low
infant mortality, Mao said.
Family planning effectively alleviated the pressure of
population on resources and the environment.
“If we had not implemented
our family planning policy, China's population would by now have reached 1.7 to
1.8 billion, with a higher pressure on arable land, grain, water resources and
energy,” he added.
Family planning also improved womens’ and childrens’ health and
improved child development, Mao said. The policy improved prenatal and
postnatal care, reproductive health services, universal adolescent sexual and
reproductive health knowledge, and protected baby girl survival as well as promoting
development rights and gender equality.
China had achieved outstanding results in terms of maternal and
infant mortality, with mortality rates dropping significantly from 80 and 50
per 100,000 in 1991 to 24.5 and 10.3 per 100,000.
"The success of China's family planning practices, has
ensured that the world 7,000,000,000 Population Day has been postponed for five
years," said Mao. China family planning policy set an example for other
developing countries to address population and development issues, and
established China as a responsible populous country.
Source: Xinhua
Two out of three Chinese don’t trust doctors
According to a survey published on Tuesday, 67 percent
of people do not trust doctors' professional diagnosis and treatment
The survey, which sampled 252,283 people and was
conducted by the survey center of the China Youth Daily, also showed that more
than 87 percent of respondents expected to rebuild doctor-patient trust
following recent assaults on medical workers in China..
Some 30.4 percent of respondents attribute current
medical disputes to a lack of public welfare services, which should be provided
by public hospitals, and 27.4 percent said negative news reports worsened such
disputes, according to the survey.
Other reasons ranging from uneven distribution of
medical resources, intensive physical workload, and the knowledge gap between
patients and doctors are blamed for the loss of doctor-patient trust, the
survey said.
On Oct 25, a doctor was stabbed to death and two
others injured by a dissatisfied patient at a hospital in East China's Zhejiang
province.
In the same week, a doctor in Guangzhou, capital of
South China's Guangdong province, was beaten up by a patient's family members.
Violence against medical staff is on the rise,
according to a previous sample survey by the Chinese Hospital Association
conducted from Dec 2012 to July 2013.
The annual average number of assaults on doctors per
hospital increased from 20.6 in 2008 to 27.3 in 2012, according to the survey,
which polled staff and patients at 316 hospitals.
"Courses in medical colleges focus more on
medical techniques, but there are few courses on communication," Wang
Zhong, vice-head of Tsinghua University Hospital, was quoted by the newspaper
as saying, adding that inadequate communication is the root of a majority of
medical disputes.
Wang said that the assault of medical staff destroys
hospital order and should be curbed and condemned as it brings panic to
doctors, which ultimately results in decreased service by doctors.
Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong pledged to curb assaults
on medical workers at a meeting last week, noting that the government will
launch a year-long campaign to enhance security arrangements at hospitals and
improve coordination between hospitals and police.
Source: China Daily
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