The combat against SARS raised the people's awareness of the importance of strengthening public health system.

China invested heavily, or 629.4 billion yuan of government expenditure, in health care in the past five years, up 127 percent from the previous equivalent period. The funding was mainly used to develop public health and medical services, and basically complete the formation of the disease prevention and control system and emergency medical response system.

The number of diseases covered by the state plan for immunization and disease prevention was increased from 7 to 15, and AIDS, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis and other major communicable diseases are treated free of charge.

During the past five years, infant and maternal mortality rates dropped significantly, while average life expectancy reached 73 years in 2005. They are momentous achievements for China, a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion.

China was hit by typhoons in 2006 with heavy losses of lives and property. A year later, strong typhoons attacked again in summer, but caused much lower losses with enhanced early-warning systems in place.

The NPC National Committee last August adopted an emergency response law aiming at improving the country's ability to handle frequent industrial accidents, natural disasters, health and public security hazards.

The law would help effectively minimize losses and prevent minor mishaps from turning into major public crisis, lawmakers said.

The introduction of new technology is also beneficial in the fighting against the disasters. Mobile phone text messages were widely used to warn those in danger.

When the SARS outbreak was quenched in 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao said that the nation would definitely recover its losses from the crisis as it continued to make progress.

"The most important point is to learn from past experiences and lessons," Wen said.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 6, 2008)