China's top legislature on Saturday passed the revised version of Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, which requires that the government guarantee funds for infectious disease prevention.
  
The revised law was passed at the 11th session of the 10th Standing Committee of National People's Congress (NPC), which concluded Saturday morning.

The central government shall provide aid to major projects in areas that cannot support their own and to poor people infected with disease who cannot afford treatment, according to the law.

"Lack of adequate funds undermined contagious disease prevention and control capabilities of organizations entrusted with the tasks," vice-minister of health Gao Qiang once said. "Due to the lack of money, some patients could not receive timely, effective and formal treatment and became new sources of infection."

The law stipulates that governments of various levels should strengthen prevention and control of AIDS and take measures to prevent the spread of the disease. This is the first time that AIDS is specifically targeted in the law.

The revised law also includes clauses that require blood donation centers and biological product companies to strictly abide by regulations of the state. This will guarantee the quality of blood and blood products.

Statistics show that among the reported AIDS cases in China, 11 percent were infected in the processes of having blood drawn or blood transmissions.

According to estimates of experts, there are 840,000 people infected with AIDS/HIV in China.

The law also rules out discrimination against people infected with contagious diseases, people carrying the pathogen of a contagious disease and people who are suspected of having a contagious disease.

In general, the law underscores prevention and early-warning of contagious diseases and isolation of patients of contagious disease. It puts greater responsibility on medical institutions to monitor the spread of contagious diseases and prevent infection inside hospitals.

China has established a four-level disease prevention and control system starting from the county level up to the prefecture, province and state levels, with a staff of 288,000 people.

By 2003, the incidence of contagious diseases in China had fallen to 182 in 100,000 people.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2004)