{
  "id": "RL32227",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32227",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104241,
      "date": "2004-02-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:27:48.711683",
      "title": "SARS, Avian Flu, and Other Challenges for China's Political, Social, and Economic Transformation",
      "summary": "In November 2002, SARS, a new and deadly human illness suspected of having an animal\norigin,\nmade its first appearance in China. Chinese leaders at first minimized the effects of the new virus\nand covered up the extent of its spread. But the disease moved rapidly to other countries, prompting\nthe World Health Organization in 2003 to label the virus a \"global health threat.\" Under intense\npublic scrutiny, Chinese leaders in April 2003 eventually acknowledged that people were sickening\nand dying, apologized for their leadership failures in addressing the problem, and launched a series\nof initiatives to try to contain the disease, limit its economic damage, and protect public health. By\nJuly 2003, the initial SARS outbreak had ended. But global disease specialists expressed concern\nthat the virus could recur, like influenza, or that other similarly mutating viruses could leap from the\nanimal to the human world. On January 5, 2004, China confirmed the first new case of SARS in\nGuangdong Province, where the 2003 outbreak had occurred. On January 27, 2004, PRC officials\nacknowledged that several flocks of birds in China were infected with the same deadly strain of\navian flu that in recent weeks had ravaged bird populations and killed humans in other Asian\ncountries. \n  The emergence of SARS and other new viruses has posed a steep learning curve for a new\ngeneration of Chinese officials who had assumed office in November 2002, only weeks before the\noriginal SARS outbreak. In suppressing information early in the crisis, the government lost\ncredibility and public confidence. More reliable information was available from foreign media\nsources, the Internet, and cell-phone text messages -- as many as 40 million a day during the 2003\nSARS crisis, according to one report. In the 2003 crisis, Chinese leaders were forced to adjust their\nstrategy by publicly embracing two radical concepts: the public has a right to know about\ninformation directly concerning their daily lives, and government officials need to be accountable\nto the public for their performance. Officials began issuing regular briefings in 2003 about SARS\ncases, and several top officials were fired for covering up the crisis. Since then, the government has\nrevamped emergency procedures, issued rules requiring greater government transparency, and\nworked to reduce the deficiencies and prohibitive costs of public health care. Some observers\nsuggested that \"lessons learned\" from the 2003 SARS outbreak could permanently influence PRC\ngovernance. \n  Some change can be seen in the more open and aggressive way officials have handled SARS\ncases in 2004. Officials have publicly announced both confirmed and suspected cases, ordered the\nextermination of many civet cats -- a culinary delicacy in China but a suspected source of\nanimal-to-human transfer of the disease -- and begun human trials of a new SARS vaccine developed\nin China. Still, PRC officials in early January 2004 detained and questioned journalists from a\nChinese newspaper that first reported on the new SARS cases, suggesting that the government still\nseeks to control information flow. And global health officials have criticized official secretiveness\nin addressing the new avian flu outbreak.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32227",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}