An outline of the current avian influenza situation on the Chinese mainland as reported to the WHO, and WHO's support to China in its efforts to combat the threat this virus poses to public health. The pages also provide a guide as to the global situation, and provide links for further reading.
A disease in one country can affect another; indeed, it can affect the entire world. This and other lessons from the SARS outbreak have not been wasted. Such experiences have helped shape how China, and other WHO Member Nations across the globe, handle emerging infectious diseases. They have also had a positive long-term impact on the partnership between China and WHO - an important development in light of the challenges posed by avian influenza in recent years. WHO China's Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response team offers its support to the Ministry of Health and other partners in a variety of ways, and these web pages explain how.
The state of the environment in China poses a major health concern requiring urgent systematic and coordinated action, with Chinese cities making up 16 of the world's 20 most polluted. These web pages outline WHO China office collaborative efforts with the Government of China to mitigate environmental health risks for China's vast population.
China's overall reported immunization rates are high compared with other countries, but difficulties remain, and immunization rates are much lower in poor rural areas and among urban migrants. The web pages provide information about China's immunization programme and how WHO provides technical support regarding international standards for vaccine safety and efficacy, and advocates for improving access to vaccination services and where appropriate adding cost-effective new vaccines to the national immunization programme.
Food safety is of growing importance to the people of China and the Chinese government, as well as increasingly being seen as a global concern. These web pages show how the Chinese government has recently introduced some measures and increased its efforts to improve food safety, and also outline areas which still require attention. WHO will continue working with government agencies in these areas.
With limited resources China has made significant strides in healthcare over the past half century. But it still has a long way to go. WHO China's Health Sector Development team has been working together with the Chinese government to improve the country's health system. Please access the Health Sector Development web pages for detailed information through the link provided above.
Although the overall prevalence of HIV remains low in China, rates are high among some populations at greater risk. The numbers of reported HIV and AIDS cases in China are still rising and there is a growing need for increased access to treatment, care and support services. WHO supports concerted efforts in China to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS and to strengthen related services, as outlined in these web pages.
Injury is currently the leading cause of death in China for people aged 15 to 44, the most economically productive age group, and China has one of the highest mortality rates due to injuries in the Western Pacific region. Injuries such as road traffic collisions, suicides, drowning, falls, and poisoning are largely preventable, and these web pages outline WHO China and the Government of China's efforts to reduce injury across China.
In the past two decades, China has made substantial progress in reducing maternal, infant and under-five mortality. Nevertheless, national figures for these rates mask large disparities which exist between urban and rural populations and across different regions of China. These web pages detail past achievements and new focus areas in the government's and WHO China's commitment to improve maternal and child health in China.
As China has grown more affluent its health profile has evolved to more closely resemble that of a developed nation, with rising prevalence of hypertension, cancers, diabetes, and obesity. These pages outline prevention and control efforts of the Ministry of Health and how WHO will continue working with and supporting government agencies at central and provincial level, including for increasing awareness of economic and social impacts of these diseases on health services, families and communities.
Though China is the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco, suffers around one million tobacco-related deaths per year, and has not previously prioritized tobacco control, a shift is occurring. Since 2004, political awareness of the scale of the health burden has been rising and China is showing much more interest and firm commitment to adopt and implement anti-smoking measures – evidenced most significantly when China signed the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004 and ratified it in 2005. The goal at WHO is to do all it can to support this process, and these web pages outline this work.
An outline of China's tuberculosis (TB) problem and new measures to address this disease that still develops in an estimated 1.4 million people every year and kills several hundred people each day in China. Given insufficient focus previously, the disease remains common and continues to blight the country's poor and vulnerable. But change is afoot. In recent years the Chinese government made a significant pledge to meet global goals, increased relevant central funding seven times over, and set up a new Internet-based reporting system including for TB. However, emerging strains of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis resulting from poor quality treatment are still a major concern. These pages outline how WHO is working to support the government's TB prevention and control efforts.