The Journal of infectious diseases
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The severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis exposed serious deficiencies in China's public health system and willingness to report outbreaks of threats to public health. Consequently, China may be one of the weak links in global preparedness for avian influenza. China's rural health care system has been weakened by 20 years of privatization and fiscal decentralization. ⋯ The poor quality of infection control in many rural facilities is a serious and well-documented problem. However, traditions of community political mobilization suggest that the potential for providing rural citizens with public health information is possible when mandated from the central government. Addressing these issues now and working on capacity issues, authority structures, accountability, and local reporting and control structures will benefit the control of a potential avian influenza outbreak, as well as inevitable outbreaks of other emerging infectious diseases in China's Pearl River Delta or in other densely populated locations of animal husbandry in China.