AFP: China notoriously secretive over its own ailments

March 27, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) BEIJING, March 28 (AFP) - China's near silence on the mysterious strain of pneumonia believed to have spread worldwide from Guangdong province reflects an image-conscious government that views bad news as a reflection of its ability to rule, health workers say.

In its first public announcement in February of the disease that initially appeared in November, the government maintained the epidemic was under control -- despite widespread panic and a hoarding of medical supplies gripping the southern province.

A second report from the government Wednesday revealed that 31 people in Guangdong had died of the disease and 792 were infected, up from five dead and 305 infected in February.

The government also acknowledged the disease had spread to Beijing and northern China's Shanxi province.

The bug has also moved to Hong Kong since February and crept around the world. Some 50 deaths have been recorded so far by the World Health Organization, as have more than 1,300 documented infections of what is now known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 14 countries and regions.

"The authorities do not want the public to know the real situation because they believe it will affect social stability," said Hu Jia, director of the Beijing-based Aizhi Institute, a non-governmental AIDS awareness group.

"The problem with this is that keeping the public in the dark also means that public health departments around the country cannot prepare to address the disease if it continues to spread.

"It's not a wise policy."

Hu's group has been fighting institutional neglect of the emerging AIDS crisis in China for years.

Pressure from the WHO and Hu's group over a looming AIDS disaster has forced Beijing to officially acknowledge there were up to one million HIV and AIDS carriers in China -- far more than the several tens of thousands estimated only two years ago.

"Local officials are afraid of reporting negative news because it reflects on their own abilities," said Hu. "They fear blame by the central government and their chances of promotion will be negatively impacted."

Chinese officials are notorious for trying to cover up accidents and disasters in an effort to escape responsibility or minimize the impact of everything from coal mine disasters to fireworks explosions, fires and road accidents.

Economic issues, like international tourism, or import bans on a wide range of products from countries suffering from cholera and other epidemics also make keeping quiet a constant Chinese policy, a Beijing-based international health official told AFP.

"In general, the Chinese government has a tendency not to allow information on disease to circulate," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"They always treat these kinds of things as an internal security issue that is not the business of outsiders. Certain communicable diseases are also seen as state secrets."

It was unlikely that the SARS epidemic in China was restricted to only Guangdong, Beijing and Shanxi, as the government says, because the virus has so far proven to be very aggressive, he said.

"My guess is that it has spread to multiple locations and is affecting people in many places," with the government seeking to minimize its spread because of the panic it produced in Guangdong, the official said.

"When the news of atypical pneumonia broke out, there was panic buying everywhere in Guangdong. People responded very badly and created a chaotic situation where even rice and salt were being hoarded from fears that the food would get contaminated."

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ba/Qhealth-pneumonia-china.R5ag_DMS.html