Progress made in public health

Improved response, increasing attention key for infectious disease control, CDC expert says

More monitoring of contagious diseases, more sophisticated lab testing and a greater emphasis by the government are among the changes Kang Min has seen in public health in his 18-year career.

In Guangdong, where Kang serves as director of Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Institute for the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, surveillance points for infectious diseases were established following the 2003 SARS epidemic. Today, the surveillance networks have broadened to include medical institutions at both the county and district levels.

Nucleic acid testing was once possible only at disease control and prevention centers at the provincial level or in major cities. But now the tests are widely available.