Zhao Lu: Some suggestions for strengthening public health management in China

China.com/China Development Portal Network News The new crown pneumonia epidemic is fierce, spreading rapidly, the urgency is unprecedented, and has brought major damage to the people's life and health and social and economic development. Although many lessons have been learned in the prevention and control of the SARS epidemic in 2003, the state has taken a series of effective measures to gradually strengthen china's public health management. However, the occurrence and spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has still exposed many problems that deserve our reflection, giving us many major warnings, and requiring us to attach more importance to public health management, conduct in-depth and systematic research and propose countermeasures from a higher height and a broader vision.

Improve the concept of national security

The concept of national security must take people's security as the highest purpose, and public health security should be included in addition to political, economic, military, cultural, social and other fields. From the "SARS" of that year to today's new crown pneumonia, we must clearly tell us that we must attach great importance to the serious threat to people's lives and health caused by public health emergencies, the huge losses caused by social and economic development, and the major impact on national security, and we must highlight and clearly incorporate public health security into the concept of national security, so that the whole country, all walks of life and all people can firmly establish the concept of public health security.

Strengthen the establishment of the rule of law

Public health management must further strengthen the construction of the rule of law and implement the strictest rule of law management in accordance with the requirements of comprehensively ruling the country according to law. The epidemic has exposed many problems in the construction of the rule of law in public health in China. Some legal provisions are too principled, not perfect, not strict enough; and the design of the system of interconnection between relevant laws is not sound enough.

China should take into account the outstanding problems exposed by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, learn from the experience of foreign rule of law construction, re-examine the legal system system in China's public health management, especially to speed up the revision of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, the revision of the Regulations on emergency management of public health emergencies and its elevation to law, and the formulation (revision) of other legal systems related to public health management, so as to build a set of scientific, complete and effective legal system system.

Strengthen government governance capacity building

The epidemic has exposed many problems lagging behind in the governance capacity building of the Chinese government, and it is necessary to strengthen the relevant governance capacity building.

It is necessary to truly transform the functions of the government. As a government under the modern market economy, it should be a government based on the rule of law, a limited government, a service government and a responsible government. Responding to major public health events such as the COVID-19 pandemic is the most important thing for governments to fulfill their duties, which cannot be replaced by any other organization and force. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the boundaries between the government and the market, effectively transform the functions of the government, and focus the functions of the government on the provision of public services. In this way, when the epidemic comes, we can have a keen sense of consciousness, a bold responsibility and enough ability to perform our duties.

It is necessary to scientifically build a government public health management system structure with vertical division of powers and horizontal allocation of functions. Clarify and refine the powers of public health management of the five levels of government, clarify and optimize the responsibilities of relevant government departments at the same level involving public health management, minimize overlap and overlap, and avoid prevarication to the greatest extent, so as to maximize management efficiency.

It is necessary to improve the public health management capacity of government and relevant department staff. Public health management is very professional, and it is necessary to select and allocate cadres of management departments, especially leading cadres, in accordance with the concept of professional affairs being done by professionals, so as to enhance the professional and professional ability of cadres.

It is necessary to strengthen the building of grass-roots organizations. A large number of specific public health management work is at the grass-roots level, and the role of grass-roots organizations in public health management, especially in public health emergencies such as SARS and new crown pneumonia, is crucial.

It is necessary to earnestly improve the ability of government workers to cope with the media. Society is extremely concerned about public health emergencies and is very sensitive. Therefore, the government press conference should be fully prepared, realistic, well-founded, and frank in response to enhance the credibility of the government.

Complete systems for information disclosure, media, and the Internet

In the information age, information disclosure, media and Internet management in public health emergencies are critical. The information of various channels of this epidemic is overwhelming, and it is the main channel for people to understand the epidemic situation and various related situations, which is completely different from the SARS period. Therefore, the government's information disclosure system for public health emergencies should be more perfect, refined, and clear, and should not be too principled.

Mainstream media information release should be objective, accurate, comprehensive, detailed, rapid, and expeditious, safeguard citizens' right to know, and correctly guide public opinion. It is necessary to pay attention to giving play to the role of scientists and medical workers, carry out professional interpretation in response to the concerns of the masses, and timely release doubts and doubts. There is more positive and scientific information, and there is less gossip, rumors, rumors, and rumors. It is necessary to strengthen the management of the Internet according to law and clarify the specific legal basis for "spreading rumors."

Strengthen the scientific spirit and professionalism of experts

In this epidemic, a large number of experts have sacrificed themselves and worked hard in the frontline of the fight against the epidemic, and have made important contributions to the fight against the epidemic with their scientific spirit and professionalism. Epidemic prevention and control must rely on science and rely on experts, who have a key supporting role in epidemic prevention and control. Because of this, in the case of public health emergencies, the scientific spirit and professionalism of experts are particularly important.

As a scientific researcher of a public scientific research institution and university, he is not only a scientific researcher, but also a public researcher who shoulders the national mission. Public scientific researchers should take the call of the country and the needs of the people as their mission and write their papers on the land of the motherland. In the future, we must attach great importance to the construction of the scientific spirit and professional quality of scientific research personnel and give full play to the important role of scientific research personnel.

Complete emergency management mechanisms for public health emergencies

Judging from this epidemic, there are many problems that need to be paid great attention to and solved in the emergency management of public health emergencies, which need to be solved urgently.

Issues with the outbreak reporting system. The provisions on the handling and reporting of major epidemic situations should be further improved, the division of powers and responsibilities between central and local disease control agencies should be further clarified, and the power of local disease control agencies to release the epidemic should be further given.

The issue of early warning mechanisms for epidemics. Responding to public health emergencies, with rapid response and timely early warning, is essential. We should further improve the early warning mechanism for the epidemic, handle early warning issues in accordance with the principle of bottom-line thinking, and clarify early warning procedures, levels, and methods.

Classification management of confirmed, suspected and personnel who need to be isolated for observation. Public health emergencies often involve a large number of people and complex situations, and in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, it is necessary to establish a system of classified treatment and isolation for different personnel situations. It is necessary to make full and effective use of hospital resources, and at the same time, the government should recruit resources such as training centers and hotels of departments and units, give play to the role of community management, and work together to do a good job in the treatment and isolation of all kinds of personnel.

The problem of resource reserves and supply mechanisms combined with "peacetime warfare". Public health emergencies have a large and urgent demand for all kinds of resources, and plans for the production, reserve, deployment, and transportation of relevant materials should be formulated, and emergency rescue teams should be established; when the epidemic occurs, the epidemic prevention materials should be uniformly produced, uniformly allocated, and transported, so as to ensure the needs of frontline epidemic prevention and control to the greatest extent.

Strengthen the construction of social organizations and improve mechanisms for the participation of social forces

To build a modern national governance system and improve governance capacity, social organizations are an indispensable and important force, especially in the event of public health emergencies. After the outbreak of the epidemic, social response and social donations have been positive and have played a very good role. However, the masses of the people have also put forward many opinions and suggestions. As a social organization, only when practicing well in peacetime can we go up in wartime; striking iron also needs to be hard, and "temporarily holding on to the Buddha's feet" is not possible. Social organizations should pinpoint the functional positioning and form a functional complementary role with the functions of the government; they should strengthen their own capacity building, standardize internal management, and improve the quality of personnel; they should carry out information disclosure according to law and accept social supervision.

According to reports, in the prevention and control of the epidemic, some logistics enterprises have intervened in the logistics operation and management of donated materials, standardized management, improved efficiency, and played an active role. The enlightenment given to us is that it is of great significance to build a system structure in which the government, society and market perform their respective duties, complement each other's functions and coordinate with each other in epidemic prevention and control and in ordinary public service activities.

Improve the quality of citizens' response to the epidemic

This epidemic is a serious "big test" for the quality of citizens. The broad masses of the people have withstood severe tests and embodied the good quality of the Chinese nation. However, there are also problems such as crisis awareness, scientific literacy, insufficient disaster education, and even a small number of people's weak concept of the rule of law, lack of social morality, and insufficient self-discipline and restraint. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the education on "how to be a qualified citizen"; it is necessary to carry out training exercises to deal with disasters and epidemics in a planned manner, so that the people can calmly and orderly respond to disasters and epidemics. "Raising troops for a thousand days can only use them for a while, and on the journey of China's modernization, we must make up for this important lesson for the entire people.

We should earnestly implement the principle of "putting prevention first" into practice

Prevention is better than cure, especially in response to public health emergencies. Although "prevention first" has always been an important part of China's health work policy, there are still many problems that need to be solved in implementation. Including strengthening the construction of the prevention system, strengthening the basic capacity building of public health, strengthening the construction of preventive scientific research bases and teams, strengthening the strategic reserve of relevant technology development capabilities and policy tools, strengthening school prevention knowledge education and university prevention discipline construction, and improving the awareness and ability of the masses to prevent.

Focus on economic policy during public health emergencies

Public health emergencies will inevitably have a major impact on the economy, which in turn will directly affect the relevant epidemic prevention work and the daily lives of the people, and it is necessary to formulate relevant economic policies for the characteristics of the epidemic period. In particular, the basic industries of the national economy, service industries, and small and medium-sized enterprises should be the focus of economic policy.

Among all kinds of economic policies, the most important fiscal and tax policies and monetary policies. In terms of fiscal and taxation policies, the focus is on: (1) implementing targeted policies such as tax reduction and fee reduction and deferred payment of taxes and fees; (2) adjusting the expenditure structure, significantly reducing general expenditure, and ensuring key expenditures according to their priorities, prioritizing them, and classifying them; (3) expanding the deficit and issuing more treasury bonds. Monetary policy focuses on financial policy support for small and medium-sized enterprises, appropriate RRR cuts, etc.

(Author: Zhao Lu, Distinguished Researcher of the Institute of Science and Technology Strategic Consulting, Chinese Academy of Sciences, former Director General of the Department of Education, Science and Culture of the Ministry of Finance. Contributed by Journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)