People must be mobilized to protect their surroundings and to fight disease while building a xiaokang society (one that is well-off overall), Vice-Premier Li Lanqing said Monday in Beijing.

At a teleconference on the country's national health campaign, Li said priority should be given to disease prevention.

The conference was held to mark the campaign's 50th anniversary.

The campaign should target the improvement of people's living surroundings and their health, Li said. There should be a focus on health care in rural areas, he added.

Li said efforts should be made to solve heavyweight public health problems, prevent and treat major diseases, and keep epidemics under control when natural disasters occur.

He stressed that HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment should be strengthened and that information about HIV/AIDS preventing and treating should be publicized.

Blood supply management should be tightened in the country, and there should be a crackdown on the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Township communities and rural Communist Party branches should play a full role in the campaign, Li said.

The management of public health care should be enhanced by combining the efforts of professional health-care staff and the general public.

Li said science and technology should play an important role in the national health campaign.

Staff from governmental departments covering epidemic-prevention and medical treatment, scientific research institutions and institutes of higher learning, should be organized to strengthen the study of, and promote techniques and standards related to issues such as waste management, pollution control, and street cleaning.

Li said no efforts should be spared in the dissemination of scientific knowledge about health care so that the general public can learn how to take care of their health.

Health education in schools should be strengthened so that students do not develop unhealthy habits in childhood, said Li.

(China Daily December 17, 2002)