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City Report and Action Plan
Weihai
Mr. Fan Kaimin
Assistant to the Director of Health Bureau
Weihai Municipal Government
China
CITY REPORT
Weihai is a port city and popular tourist
destination. It has a population of almost 2.5 million and is an
economically strong and modern city that aims for harmonious
integration between people and nature. It has twice won the UN's
International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living
Environment, and in 2004 it won the UN Habitat Scroll of Honor Award.
Although the city experienced negative natural growth in 2004, the
population continued to rise due to migration.
There are five levels of government in China:
national, provincial, city, county and town. There is very strong
central government control. Only the national and provincial levels of
government have legislative jurisdiction, but local government can
decide on means of implementing policy such as in social welfare,
public health and urban planning. The mayor is appointed by the
People's Congress and serves a five-year term. It is the mayor's
responsibility to propose eight deputy mayors.
Reproductive Health
To promote public health, China has made a
series of regulations, master plans, ordinances and action plans, which
include initiatives on infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, maternal and
infant health care and family planning. As mentioned, the local
government is under the control of the central government, and must
abide by central government policies.
To implement the national public health
policies, Weihai has developed a number of programs, including plans to
improve maternal and infant health and family planning. The plans
promote increased antenatal consultation and antenatal examination and
dissemination of information on condom use. Family planning is
particularly important for China due to the need to control the growth
of its already high population. As a result of successful planning, the
birth rate in Weihai has continued to decline annually over the past
five years.
HIV/AIDS
Weihai is now working to improve its programs
for increasing adolescent health education, reducing the incidence of
abortion and preventing infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. As of
2004, there have been only nine confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS. Goals for
2010 are to bring infant mortality to under 6 per 1000 (currently 7.1
per 1000), reduce the birth defect rate to 4 per 1000, decrease
maternal mortality to 15 per 100,000 and raise the contraceptive
prevalence rate to 98%.
The city has been highly successful in its
family planning initiatives, particularly in promoting contraception
use. Weihai has also done well at reducing mortality. In less than one
generation both adult mortality and infant mortality have been
significantly reduced.
ACTION PLAN
Target population
14-year-olds to 24-year-olds (current
population of this group is 70,000.)
Current program
National:
The Chinese government has taken a number of steps to address complex
social and political issues. In 2004 it began promoting condoms and
needle exchange programs. It has begun free anti-retro viral drugs for
farmers and impoverished people, free care to prevent mother-to-child
transmission, free voluntary HIV testing, free schooling for AIDS
orphans, and care for AIDS patients and their families.
Local:
We are disseminating information and introducing sex education into
secondary schools.
Problems and constraints
Financial constraints, provision of
information, increase in risky sexual behavior, a traditional culture
that inhibits education about sexual transmission of disease are some
of the problems and challenges involved.
Action Plan
- Increase investment in education from one million
U.S. dollars in 2006 to three million U.S. dollars in 2010. Increase
funds for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and other STDs from
200,000 U.S. dollars in 2006 to 400,000 U.S. dollars in 2010.
- Set up a web site within three months, to disseminate
information about sex and HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
- Form two or three peer counseling groups, by the end
of 2005.
- Improve the dissemination of information with the
assistance of the Education Bureau, promote sex education in secondary
schools, and improve communication among youths, teachers, parents and
society.
- Improve cooperation with NGOs such as the Women's
League Commission, the Communist Youth League, and the Red Cross.
- Improve international cooperation, not only with
developed countries but also with developing countries, learning from
their experience on adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS
prevention and control.
- Strengthen the training of health care workers.
- Work with hotel and service employees to help achieve
100 percent condom usage.
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