英文摘要 |
Some studies on the early-stage epidemic prevention efforts in post-1949 China have observed the characteristic of mobilization in epidemic governance and scientism in healthcare practices. However, little research has explored how the state drew on its epidemic prevention experience to develop an epidemic prevention system and regime nature in the early years. To fill this gap in the literature, this study expounds on China's experience in epidemic prevention from 1949 to 1957 using the therapeutic state theory of the history of medicine. First, in view of hybrid public health institutions implemented during the Republican era and a shortage of public health resources, among other problems, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established an epidemic prevention system based on its experience in wartime epidemic prevention. Second, this study contends that such institutional legacies led the CCP to establish a double-track system combining epidemic prevention and surveillance mechanisms. Third, this epidemic prevention-surveillance system was confined by the prolonged bargaining process of the party-government system and the problem of overlapping functions, which in turn subjected the professional epidemic monitoring system to resource crowding out and political interference. In general, this holds some significance for understanding the continuity of China's epidemic prevention systems in contemporary times, particularly in regard to misallocation of resources and difficulties with disease monitoring and control confronting China during recent infectious disease outbreaks. |