Time to strengthen health governance

The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus ahead of this year's Spring Festival holiday has turned into a nationwide epidemic that poses severe challenges to China's public health and epidemic prevention management system. The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, are paying the greatest attention to the epidemic prevention and control work, and a joint battle against the virus has been launched by the Party committees and governments at various levels.

One of the advantages of China's national governance system is its ability to concentrate efforts and resources as needed, which is not only manifest in major projects and significant events, but also in coping with national emergencies. China's successful governance and social management during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-03 and the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 demonstrated its ability to effectively deal with significant emergencies. Based on its national governance system advantages, China is confident in and capable of winning the battle against the novel coronavirus.

To this end, China has established a unified, high-level leadership mechanism to further leverage its governance system advantages. On Jan 25, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided to establish a leading group to guide the battle against the epidemic. And President Xi Jinping has deployed military medical teams to assist the novel coronavirus prevention and control work in Wuhan.

China's capabilities are also evidenced by the newly built Huoshenshan hospital in Wuhan. More than 4,700 workers participated in the construction of the hospital that covers 25,000 square meters and has 1,000 beds, and which was completed in only 10 days. Behind this incredible "Chinese speed" is China's excellent governance system, which is also the guarantee that the country will win the battle against the novel coronavirus.

Learning from the lessons of SARS outbreak, China has improved and modernized its modern emergency management system as well as public health management. Nevertheless, the sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus has exposed some loopholes in local public health emergency management.

First is the slow response of public health emergency sector in the epidemic outbreak region. After the novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, Zhejiang province immediately launched a top level public health emergency response, but despite being the epicenter of the outbreak, Hubei province, did not initiate a top level public health emergency response until Jan 24.

Second, the reserves and supply of emergency medical equipment such as face masks and hazmat suits have proved to be insufficient in many local areas. In the early stage of the outbreak, many local areas, Wuhan in particular, have faced severe shortages of essential epidemic prevention and control items such as masks and protective clothing as well as necessary medical materials.

Third, the public health emergency management capacity of local officials in epidemic outbreak regions needs to be improved. At the early stage of the outbreak, many local officials lacked sufficient risk-prevention consciousness and exposed insufficient resource planning capacity and information communication capacity. In addition, the public's widespread panic reminds us the public's awareness of what to do in a public health crisis needs to be enhanced.

The novel coronavirus epidemic should hammer home the point that the public health emergency management is an indispensable part of national and local governance. The government should pay more attention to the public health emergency management to promote its modernization.

To further improve the public health emergency management system, the government should first learn from the experiences and lessons of coping with epidemic situations, and optimize the public health emergency plan mechanism and emergency response mechanism.

Second, the authorities should improve the cross-regional and cross-department emergency response mechanism. A unified and highly efficient public health emergency frontline command mechanism should be built to integrate emergency resources to the maximum.

Third, local officials' public health emergency management capacity, in particular their executive capacity, should be strengthened through training.

Fourth, the authorities should enhance research and development of public health technology to improve the country's public health management capabilities, and enforce the ban on the trade of wild animals to cut the disease transmission at the root. They should also emphasize development of the relevant basic sciences to fight against epidemics with scientific weapons.

Last but not the least, the public should strengthen its capacity to cope with a public health emergency so they can better play their part in epidemic management.

The author is a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Governance. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.