China's Ministry of Health issued a 10-Year Plan to fight
parasitic diseases on Thursday, vowing to reduce the infection rate
by 40 percent in 2010 and 60 percent in 2015.
The plan aims to reduce the spread of major parasitic diseases
including geohelminthes, echinococcosis, chonorchis, tapeworm
disease and cysticercosis and prevent new infections of the
kala-azar disease.
The plan was drawn up to promote the progress in the prevention
and control of parasitic disease, protect the health of people and
boost the coordinated development of economy and society, the
ministry said.
The plan maps out detailed goals for the prevention of
geohelminthes, echinococcosis and chonorchis and policies and
measures to fight these diseases.
It also introduces a set of standards regarding the percentage
of parasitic disease knowledge the public should have, healthy
standards of living, toilet sanitation and increase in the number
of qualified medical workers.
According to a survey completed by the ministry in 2004 on the
status of major human parasitic diseases in China the country has
19.56 percent of geohelminthes infections and 21.38 percent of worm
infections. This equals the infection rate of Japan in the 1960s
and ROK in the 1980s.
Based on the survey, the ministry estimates that about 129
million Chinese are infected with geohelminthes, 12.49 million with
chonorchis, 550,000 with tapeworm and 380,000 with
echinococcosis.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2006)