Objective To assess the public health impacts and needs, to evaluate performance of anti-epidemic efforts after Lushan earthquake, so as to provide references for the following anti-epidemic work.
Methods The day of earthquake occurrence was defined as the first day after earthquake. We collected information and data from the Sichuan Provincial Government, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the Health Department of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and then we compared the situations of disaster, public health situation in stricken area, emergency response, resource deployment, etc. with those after Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, in order to evaluate the performance of anti-epidemic response during 2 weeks, clarify current situations and demands, and offer a proposal for the following work.
Results Emergency response was conducted immediately after the Lushan earthquake. The counterpart assistance was considered at the beginning of team arrangement. The number and professional structure of rescue participants were planned according to needs. Three days after earthquake, anti-epidemic staff arrived at every involved county, town, and even village, which achieved full rescue coverage of locations and interventions. The staff helped reconstruct disease surveillance system, protect source of drinking water and environmental hygiene, etc., which resulted in progressive achievement. Two weeks after the earthquake there were no outbreak and public health emergency event occurred in stricken area.
Conclusion The anti-epidemic efforts after Lushan earthquake inherit and develop the lessons from Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Emergency response is timely, orderly, scientific, and moderate. The deployment of policies, technologies and resources has already been completed during two weeks. Anti-epidemic efforts achieve preliminary results. We suggest that key issues of further work should be the implementation of policies, strategies and measures, such as health management at relocation sites, water and food hygiene, disease monitoring, prevention and control, mass vaccination, scientific disinfection, and health education, in order to improve long-efficacy mechanism and stabilize work performance.
Citation: TANG Xuefeng,WU Xianping,WU Jianlin,ZHU Xiaoping,ZHANG Chengyun,FANG Gang,LUO Xiangshu,LIU Lunguang,YUAN Heng,DENG Bin,LV Qiang,ZHONG Bo,CHEN Dan. Performance Evaluation of Anti-epidemic Efforts during 2 Weeks after Lushan Earthquake. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2013, 13(5): 507-513. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.20130087 Copy