Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for carrying out the patriotic public health campaign in a more targeted way in light of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control.
The year 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the mass Patriotic Health Campaign. Launched in the early 1950s in China, it was aimed at raising levels of sanitation and hygiene and controlling waterborne disease.
In his recent instruction to the campaign, Xi appealed for more efforts to guide the public on promoting health knowledge and skills, developing good personal hygiene habits and practicing a civilized and healthy lifestyle, with an aim to “build a solid social defense line for epidemic prevention and control, and effectively protect the lives and health of the people.”
More targeted patriotic health campaigns should be conducted as the country’s COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control faces new situations and new tasks, Xi noted.
He also highlighted the progress made over the past 70 years under this national campaign and urged those working on the front to make innovations and new contributions to accelerating the building of a healthy China.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made instructions on the matter and urged efforts to adhere to the principle of putting prevention first, and innovate related mechanisms and working approaches.
Noting that the country’s epidemic response against COVID-19 is being implemented in an orderly fashion, Li called for efforts to further leverage relevant strengths and boost the initiative to carry out science-based epidemic prevention and control on all fronts.
