"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)
