Author: Ma Guangzu Ji Liang Xing
As a new acute respiratory infectious disease, SARS is called SARS internationally. Over the past six months or so, the prevalence and spread of SARS in China and around the world has attracted wide attention from all countries in the world. In the face of sudden disasters, by analyzing the origin and evolution of this epidemic, we have gained a lot of enlightenment and reflection by summarizing and reviewing historical experiences and lessons.
First, recognize the harm of SARS and face the "century disaster" bravely.
1. Take history as a mirror and recognize the harm of SARS.
Infectious disease is a disaster that is extremely harmful to all mankind. 1348 A plague broke out in Europe, and 62 million people died in three years, accounting for almost a quarter of the European population at that time; 19 18 The flu broke out in the United States. Within 10 months, 40 million people died worldwide. These infectious diseases in human history, without exception, have the characteristics of fast spread, high mortality and uncontrollable for quite a period of time, which have brought great pain to human society. SARS, which appeared this year, showed a spreading trend at the initial stage of the epidemic, and was listed as a Class A infectious disease by the World Health Organization. If it cannot be effectively controlled, the historical tragedy may repeat itself.
Disease prevention is an important part of human safety and health system. According to the principles and procedures of generalized security system engineering, the primary task of controlling any system risk is to identify the system risk. If we don't know the causes, mechanism and harm degree of risks, it is equivalent to "blind people riding blind horses and going to deep pools in the middle of the night", and there is no way to prevent and control risks. As a new infectious disease, SARS was initially identified as a "coronavirus" by scientists, but the origin, carrier, transmission route and variation of the virus are unknown, and pathologists are still exploring and discussing it. In the early days of SARS, the medical community did not have clear diagnostic criteria, effective medical security programs and symptomatic drugs. People are faced with a dangerous and hidden stubborn enemy. When they were unprepared and helpless, thousands of people, including medical staff, were attacked by diseases, and one fresh life died helplessly. The struggle between mankind and SARS has just begun, and it will take time to fully understand the true face of SARS virus and completely defeat this vicious enemy.
2. Facing the "century disaster" bravely, managers should first take responsibility.
SARS is today's "century disaster". "Fighting against SARS" is related to the life and health of all mankind, and requires close and thoughtful cooperation between organizations and all sectors of society. Any qualified and responsible government and public affairs manager in a country should fully assume the responsibility of organizing and mobilizing disaster relief and take action quickly.
It should be pointed out that when SARS first appeared in Guangdong in February this year, people showed panic, and there was a storm of snapping up necessities such as salt and white vinegar, while some government officials and the media showed vague and lagging understanding. In March, when answering questions from foreign journalists, the former Minister of Health claimed that "the epidemic situation in China has been controlled". Academician Zhong Nanshan revised this sentence to "Contained", which means that the epidemic situation in Guangdong has been contained. The difference between "contained" and "controlled" reflects a completely different understanding of the development stage of the epidemic. It should be said that the estimation of the epidemic situation by the officials of the Ministry of Health is completely wrong, and Beijing has lost a precious opportunity to stop the spread of SARS because of its lagging understanding and ineffective action. In April, the epidemic in Beijing reached its climax and quickly spread to some parts of the country. If the Party Central Committee hadn't taken drastic measures to replace some officials, started the media to announce the epidemic situation every day, made special reports, mobilized the manpower, material resources and financial resources of the whole country, and adopted strict disinfection, isolation and other preventive measures to fully fight against SARS, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Two, "system guarantee, scientific prevention and control, prevention and control according to law", to defeat SARS.
How to carry out this struggle effectively and orderly? The reality of the fight against SARS tells us that only by establishing and starting the "disease prevention and control system" and mobilizing the whole society to carry out scientific prevention and control according to law is the correct way to ensure the victory of this struggle.
1, establish a prevention and control system according to law.
The prevention and control of safety and health system risks must rely on a complete management system to ensure. This "system" should include environmental, safety and health assessment, formulation of policies and objectives, establishment of organizational structure, determination of responsibilities and work plans, formulation of emergency plans, implementation of funds and facilities, and technical support. Obviously, to deal with the infectious and sudden disease disaster of SARS, we must establish and operate a "disease prevention and control system", start a "disease prevention and emergency mechanism", mobilize the manpower, material resources, financial resources and intellectual resources of the whole society, and organize all citizens to carry out scientific prevention and control according to law, so as to be truly effective. In this global fight against SARS, after the World Health Organization announced the SARS epidemic for the first time on March 14 this year, the United States decided to open the newly built National Center for Disease Prevention and Emergency Response ahead of schedule. The center costs more than $7,654.38 million and can operate 24 hours a day. Its opening has obviously enhanced the real-time information exchange ability of government departments at all levels and local health institutions in the United States, ensuring early detection.
Not long ago, the World Health Organization affirmed China's achievements in "fighting SARS" and called on all countries in the world to actively help China establish a "disease prevention and control system". On May 12, the State Council promulgated the Emergency Regulations for Public Health Emergencies, which includes prevention and emergency preparation, report and information release, emergency handling, legal responsibility and other important contents. The promulgation and implementation of this regulation is an important step for China to establish a "disease prevention and control system" and implement "prevention and control according to law".
The construction of medical and health facilities is an important part of the disease prevention and control system. According to the requirements of the system and operation mode, environmental protection and occupational health evaluation should be carried out before the design of new, rebuilt and expanded health facilities to reduce the disadvantages of unreasonable layout and functional configuration. According to the recent feedback from the SARS Supervision Team of the Health Department of the Autonomous Region in our city, there are some problems such as unreasonable layout, cross-flow of people and logistics in various hospitals in our city. Looking back at the SARS period, many people in Beijing were reluctant to go to hospitals at that time. Some hospitals became "epidemic hospitals" because of cross-infection. This lesson must be taken as a warning. Based on this reasoning, the designated hospitals for infectious diseases that are being rebuilt in our city should also do this part of the preliminary work seriously.
The problem of reporting the epidemic situation criticized by many people in the SARS incident is actually a problem of "prevention and control according to law". In China's Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases and the Emergency Regulations on Public Health Emergencies, there are clear responsibilities: you must not conceal, delay reporting or omit reporting emergencies, and you must not instruct others to lie or conceal them, otherwise you will face severe legal responsibilities. Medical staff are the legal reporters of the epidemic situation, but some of them often delay or fail to report the epidemic situation because of their weak sense of responsibility, poor professional quality and weak legal awareness, which makes it difficult and inaccurate for epidemic prevention departments to collect epidemic information. The Emergency Regulations on Public Health Emergencies also stipulates that not only medical and health institutions or monitoring institutions should report emergencies in time after receiving the report, but also the government and relevant departments must respond within 1 hour after receiving the report, notify the government at the next higher level, and have the responsibility to notify neighboring provinces and cities. For the oil city located in the northwest border of the motherland, the information is relatively closed. The government and medical and health institutions should strictly abide by the provisions of the above Emergency Regulations, abide by the law and be responsible for people's health and life.
2, national mobilization, scientific prevention and control of SARS.
"Scientific prevention and control" refers to scientific measures, methods and means taken on the basis of risk identification of diseases. The human struggle against SARS is still in the primary stage, and the uncertainty and incompleteness of understanding will lead to blindness, inefficiency or ineffectiveness. The wrong understanding of anti-science may also expand the harm, cause blind obedience, panic and even absurd superstition of the public, and cause serious consequences. Only by truly mastering the pathogenic mechanism of SARS virus and the correct prevention and treatment methods, and all members of society implement "scientific prevention and treatment", can SARS be truly defeated.
The fight against SARS has united scientific research institutions all over the world. Pathologists and medical scientists all over the world, with the selfless spirit of "fighting against diseases and racing against time", have made rapid progress in SARS research and medical facilities in just a few months after the emergence of SARS, including completing the whole genome sequencing map of SARS virus, successfully developing the rapid enrichment device of SARS virus, enzyme-linked rapid diagnosis kit and detection technology of SARS virus gene chip.
In the front line of treating SARS patients, China medical experts and medical staff saved many SARS patients' lives at the expense of their own lives and health. Academician Zhong Nanshan boldly adopted "hormone therapy" when the epidemic broke out in Guangdong, which greatly reduced the mortality rate of SARS. Professor Jiang, an old professor at the Military Medical University, is treating the first-line unfortunate infection. He took great risks and implemented "serum therapy" for himself, and obtained a "life-saving therapy" that can be used in special circumstances. Ye Xin, Deng Lianxian, Li Xiaohong and other "angels in white" gave their lives without hesitation in the struggle against the disease, and gained valuable experience in prevention and treatment, which became the practical basis for people all over the world to fight against SARS scientifically.
Our city has done a good job in "scientific prevention and control". All units and communities have done a lot of work in the publicity of SARS prevention and control knowledge, environmental disinfection, strict inspection and management of foreign personnel, and laid a good foundation for the in-depth development of epidemic prevention and environmental sanitation in our city in the future.
Third, the reflection from the SARS disaster.
Engels said: "A smart nation will learn much more from disasters and mistakes than usual." . "SARS" has indeed brought great losses to human life and health and social economy, but the impact of the "SARS" disaster is temporary, and the things and lessons people get from the disaster are long-lasting. During the SARS period, the whole society was full of active thoughts, and people reflected on many issues, among which the value of human life and health, the relationship between human and natural environment and other species, and human behavior and habits became hot topics.
1. The value of life and health
The SARS disaster, like a mirror, exposed the shortcomings in China's public health and medical system, and highlighted the disharmony between the rapid economic growth and "people's health and people's own development" in China. The World Health Report released by the World Health Organization in 2000 revealed that China's per capita health expenditure ranked 1, 9 1 countries in the world 188. At present, about 76% people in China have not participated in medical insurance, and the occupational safety and health status of coal mines, metal smelting and other industries in China's industrial production field is also worrying. In 2000, the total investment of the state finance was 65.438+05.886 billion, and the health expenditure accounted for 65.438+0.74% of the state finance, which was 27.2 billion, while the public health finance only accounted for about 65.438+00%, which was about 3 billion yuan. In 200 1 year, there were 4,253 health and epidemic prevention stations in China with more than 200,000 people. This money is basically only enough to pay wages, and there is no money for research and business development. China's general line of "taking economic construction as the center" was originally aimed at solving "the contradiction between people's growing material and cultural needs and backward social productive forces" and ensuring people to live a safe and healthy "well-off" life. However, the current reality is that there is a gap between the rapid growth of GDP of the national economy and the public's medical care and environmental sanitation conditions, and the arrival of SARS threatens everyone. Reality warns us that people need more than GDP, and the foundation of economic construction is people. People's life and health are the most precious, and we should pay more attention to people's respect and living conditions.
The state has always emphasized "prevention first", but in practice, the problem of "emphasizing treatment over prevention" has not been effectively solved. Public health undertakings should not be managed simply through the channels of market economy, and the government has the responsibility to invest enough manpower, financial resources and material resources in public health. Only when the public health system is established and improved can it be said that it has the ability to deal with emergencies.
The disease prevention and control institution in our city is a public institution affiliated to the health administrative department of the government. From the hardware point of view, the city's disease control institutions are better in Xinjiang, but compared with the mainland cities and clinical medical institutions in this city, the investment is dwarfed, and the problem of "paying more attention to treatment than prevention" still exists. Moreover, our city is a remote oil industrial city, and the prevention and control of diseases should not only be reflected in the prevention and control of infectious diseases, but also in the prevention and control of food hygiene, occupational hygiene and public health emergencies.
The fight against SARS, with its powerful external shock, promote that change of thinking and the revision of policy orientation of government department at all levels: during the SARS period, governments and administrative department at all levels made way for the fight against SARS in media propaganda, financial allocation, material allocation, transportation, tax policies and other aspects. The struggle against disasters has purified people's souls and virtually improved the whole society's understanding of life and health. People are calling for the "humanism" spirit of "respecting life, health and rights", and the warm heat is surging. The noble qualities of kindness, caring, selflessness and self-sacrifice flash in countless touching stories. A super-utilitarian belief unites everyone and is enough to make any disaster retreat.
2. "Harmony between man and nature" is the right choice for human beings.
"The Unity of Heaven and Man" is an important philosophical thought of China in ancient times. It simply and essentially reveals the close and harmonious relationship between man and nature and between man and environment. This concept is a deep interpretation of modern environmental protection concept. Humans can only develop natural resources in a planned way according to the laws of nature, rationally transform the natural environment, and strive to maintain the ecological balance, and never rely on high technology to frantically ask for it from nature, completely ignoring the carrying capacity of this planet and the living environment of other creatures.
Since the 20th century, with the rapid development of modern industry, science and technology have created a brand-new mode of production and lifestyle for human beings, but at the same time, they have also destroyed the balance of nature and caused new problems such as environmental pollution, ecological imbalance, energy crisis and nuclear pollution. Waste water and waste gas produced by industry and transportation pollute the atmosphere, oceans and rivers, affect human health and lead to the extinction of many marine and terrestrial creatures. In the past half century, science and development have failed to stop the frequent occurrence of deadly infectious diseases. A variety of influenza, AIDS, dengue fever, West Nile disease, Ebola and other malignant diseases have landed all over the world, and SARS is a new member of these many virus races. In any case, the imbalance and destruction of the environment is undoubtedly the cause of new infectious diseases. The so-called "can people be healthy when they are sick?" This is indeed worthy of deep reflection by mankind.
In recent years, with the development of water diversion projects, large-scale agriculture, sewage treatment and other major projects in our city, environmental protection and ecological balance in this area have entered a virtuous circle. We should make full use of the favorable opportunity of western development and make persistent efforts to build our city into an ecological city with beautiful environment.
3. Revenge of animals
Regarding the source of SARS, there is a saying in the scientific community that it comes from animals. This theory became a common view when the epidemic first appeared in Guangdong, and its judgment was mainly based on the fact that most of the patients in the early days were restaurant chefs, while Cantonese people liked to eat wild animals such as mountain birds, wild animals and snakes. Some experts of the World Health Organization believe that SARS virus is closely related to wild animals. Some time ago, Japanese scientists made a genetic analysis of SARS virus, claiming that SARS is a variant of the virus in birds. They believe that this mutant virus is transmitted to humans through birds and becomes a fatal factor. Recently, the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control, the University of Hong Kong and the Focus Investigation Team of the Ministry of Agriculture released the latest survey results: it was preliminarily found that SARS virus probably came from wild animals such as civet cats.
No matter what the final conclusion of the above statement is, the bad habit of human eating wild animals is obviously against the laws of nature. Animals such as pigs, cows, sheep and chickens have been domesticated and eaten by humans for thousands of years, which is relatively applicable and safe. However, some people are tired of eating livestock and poultry, and the pursuit of freshness has led to the rise of eating game, and a large number of wild animals without quarantine have become the so-called delicacies on people's tables. The price of people's greedy appetite is heavy, and the unknown virus epidemic from wild animals may be nature's punishment for our bad eating habits. Zhang Chaoyang, a famous network person, said during the SARS period: "SARS is a powerful cry and revenge of the animal kingdom. Human evolution is not ready for us to deal with all viruses, and viruses are widespread in other organisms. " In the face of SARS, the theory of "animal revenge" is really worthy of reflection.
4. Tradition and habit are facing challenges.
The spread of SARS has affected the business of Chinese restaurants in some places, because the system of eating the same table and eating the same plate may be cross-infected, and the traditional way of "Chinese cuisine" has been challenged; During the SARS period, people's concept of environmental sanitation was greatly enhanced, and the removal and treatment of domestic garbage attracted widespread attention. The bad habit of spitting is besieged and severely punished by the whole society. Indoor ventilation and environmental disinfection have become the unanimous conscious actions of the whole people; People pay attention to eating green pollution-free food and outdoor activities to promote health and enhance immunity; The isolation of suspected patients from close contacts with SARS has won the understanding and support of most citizens. Even migrant workers can consciously isolate themselves after returning home, and people become more rational and self-disciplined in the face of constraints and systems.
The pain of SARS and the threat of death make more people think deeply about the value of life, the meaning of life and the relationship between people. The struggle between people for interests and rights has decreased, replaced by more care, understanding and mutual assistance; Business leaders and social civil servants give up too many banquets, socializing and seeing off, and choose to have dinner with their families in order to enjoy the warmth of the family and fulfill their responsibilities of filial piety and education for the elderly; The pursuit of civilized, quiet and profound spiritual life has gradually become an atmosphere.
The reality shows us that the influence of SARS is prompting people to consciously change and correct the traditional living habits and lifestyles formed over thousands of years, get rid of bad habits and constantly purify their hearts. However, things are always developing in waves, and the resurgence of bad habits may appear at any time. For example, recently, in various communities in our city, the bad habit of some unconscious people littering has risen, and it is still a long way to go to strengthen education and management.
The subtle influence is great. When kindness, kindness, civilization and science permeate every social cell, human beings can truly gain the power to overcome ignorance and disease.
On May 27th, 2003, there were only 9 newly diagnosed clinical cases in China. By June 4th, there were zero cases for the first time, and the SARS epidemic was initially controlled. Progress has been made in the fight against SARS. However, science and history tell us that controlling the epidemic is not a one-off event, and a rebound may occur at any time. Ceng Guang, chief epidemiologist of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, once said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency: "SARS has appeared so quickly that it is likely to continue to spread at home and abroad, and it is likely to form a seasonal epidemic peak like most respiratory infectious diseases. Even in areas where the epidemic has declined, it is still possible to rise again. In areas where there is no epidemic or few reported cases, we must not take it lightly.
To put it another way, since the SARS epidemic, the number of infected people in the world is less than 1 10,000, and the number of deaths is less than 1000. Compared with any plague epidemic in the last century, its losses can be said to be "dwarfed". The unity, organizational strength, scientific and technological level of human society and the awareness of respecting life, health and environment are not the same as before. The current China government's efforts and brilliant achievements in this fight against diseases are stronger than any dynasty in the history of China. "SARS" will be defeated, and the experience and lessons gained by the people in the fight against SARS will be transformed into great spiritual strength, prompting us to take more solid steps on the road of building a "Socialism with Chinese characteristics".