Progress in malaria control in China.

PURPOSE: To summarize the main achievements of the control of malaria in the People's Republic of China.

DATA SOURCES: The data are from national case reporting system (1955-1998), and bibliographic reviews of textbooks and review articles.

STUDY SELECTION: Successes in control and research of malaria were identified and selected to address the stated purpose.

DATA EXTRACTION: In the past 50 years, large-scale malaria control activities were conducted in the country, relying on primary health care networks and community participation. The control of malaria was implemented according to the time- and locality-oriented approaches. As a result, remarkable success has been achieved. By the end of 1998, there were 31.3 thousand malaria cases in China, with a morbidity of 0.25 per ten thousand, which dropped by 99% in comparison with that in the 1950s.

RESULTS

Most of the original hyper-endemic areas became meso- or hypo-endemic and for most of the previously meso- or hypo-endemic areas, the disease became sporadic. Malaria distribution and epidemic pattern also demonstrated great changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Malaria control in China has been considerably successful in the past 50 years, which coincides with the target of the World Health Organization's "Health for all by the year 2000".