"I was deeply impressed by the confidence which has been
established in the last four months between the Chinese government
and the World Health Organization (WHO)," a senior WHO official
said here Thursday.
Dr. David Heymann, WHO Executive director for communicable
diseases, told a joint press conference held by the Chinese
Ministry of Health and the WHO that it is very important for the
WHO to have confidence in its member states.
"With this confidence, we are able to assess together the
effectiveness of the activities which have been done in China,"
said Heymann.
The most important is that the WHO continue with the Chinese
government in strengthening the surveillance system and
accompanying research, which is necessary to better understand the
risk factors for this disease entering the population and how to
prevent that in the future, he said.
He
also stressed the importance of establishing a proper link between
hospitals and public health systems, as well as adequate mechanisms
for information-sharing between the WHO and the
Chinesegovernment.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2003)
