China has created a unique surveillance system using neighborhood
communities to detect potential severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) cases, James Maguire from the World Health Organization
(WHO) said in Beijing Tuesday.
Maguire, along with other WHO experts, had just concluded an
inspection tour of Hebei Province in north China. He told a press
conference in Beijing that Hebei had set up checkpoints at major
commuter entrances into the province.
It
also developed a "community watch" surveillance network. In
addition to hospitals, these measures formed a "triple safety net,"
he said.
"It's quite a complicated and intricate web of surveillance," he
said. "It's like a fishing net. It uses the traditional
neighborhood community unit so it is quite unique to China."
He
said this surveillance was active and could search for and detect
potential SARS cases, compared to the passive system set up in
hospitals.
Other WHO experts noted that in the places they visited in Hebei,
almost everyone knew what SARS was and what its main symptoms
were.
WHO expert Alan Schnur said the entire society had been mobilized
the entire society.
"Overall, we are quite encouraged by these innovative strategies,"
he said.
Another WHO expert Keiji Fukuda said that all levels of the Chinese
government, from the highest to the lowest, were showing increasing
commitment to working with the international community and to
working on SARS. He said the experts also saw the willingness of
the Chinese government to listen to comments from the international
community and make changes in its work.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2003)