Ministry of Health Releases Measures on Reporting Infectious Disease Information

July 25, 2006

On June 2, the Ministry of Health issued Administrative Measures on the Reporting of Infectious Disease Information. The measures require that all medical organizations strengthen their systems for infectious disease diagnosis and reporting, train medical personnel in infectious disease reporting, and assist in infectious disease investigations. The measures also mandate prompt reporting of outbreaks and suspected cases of anthrax, highly contagious pneumonia, polio, human cases of avian flu, and other infectious diseases of unknown causes. Such outbreaks must be reported to county-level infectious disease prevention and control organizations and disease reporting networks within two hours of being discovered.

On June 2, the Ministry of Health issued Administrative Measures on the Reporting of Infectious Disease Information. The measures require that all medical organizations strengthen their systems for infectious disease diagnosis and reporting, train medical personnel in infectious disease reporting, and assist in infectious disease investigations. The measures also mandate prompt reporting of outbreaks and suspected cases of anthrax, highly contagious pneumonia, polio, human cases of avian flu, and other infectious diseases of unknown causes. Such outbreaks must be reported to county-level infectious disease prevention and control organizations and disease reporting networks within two hours of being discovered.

International health organizations and central government officials continue to express concern about slow, inaccurate local-level reporting of avian flu outbreaks among both humans and poultry, despite State Council regulations that mandate accurate reporting. The Ministry of Health issued a circular on its Web site on March 20 that warned authorities that cover-ups or delays in reporting cases of human infection could risk spreading the disease. The circular stated that some medical organizations had not promptly reported on "pneumonia cases with unknown causes," and that some local health departments failed to "promptly organize inspection work." A World Health Organization official has also expressed concern about the Chinese government’s practice of reporting only confirmed cases of avian flu among humans and urged the Chinese government to act with greater transparency, according to a March 24 Wall Street Journal report (subscription only). For more information on central and local government efforts to improve transparency in responding to avian flu, see the CECC’s February 2006 roundtable China's Response to Avian Flu: Steps Taken, Challenges Remaining.

The National People’s Congress Standing Committee is currently considering a draft Law on Responding to Sudden Incidents which focuses on four types of emergencies: natural disasters, industrial accidents, public order crises, and health emergencies. Government departments prepared the draft law to address the problems that plagued the government response to the 2003 SARS crisis. For more information on state control of information relating to health, see section III(h)--Public Health of the Commission's 2005 Annual Report.