Month: May 2020

China is the largest developing country in the world. Their economy has continued to grow 10% each year over the past 20 years. Although China has achieved economic growth and development, the environment is deteriorating. The country struggles with outdoor and indoor air pollution, water shortages and pollution. These environment issues have become more pronounced recently and are putting Chinese residents at significant health risks. 

The greatest challenge among cities in China is outdoor air pollution. The source of air pollution has slowly shifted from conventional coal combustion to a mixture of coal combustion and motor vehicle emissions. China’s current air pollution is compared to developed countries in the 1960s. Studies have documented that the health effects of China’s outdoor air pollution could lead to increased respiratory symptoms, hospitalization, and premature death. The World Health Organization estimated that outdoor air pollution was associated with approximately 300,000 premature deaths per year. 

Many people in rural areas of China still use coal and biomass fuels in their stoves that produce substantial indoor air pollution. Lung cancer, acute respiratory infection, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are all potential health effects caused by solid fuels. The World Health Organization estimated that solid fuels used in Chinese households cause approximately 420,000 premature deaths each year.

Another serious health concern in China is water pollution, specifically in rural areas. The water in 2008 received the worst grade in the Chinese National Standard for Water Quality. The water couldn’t even be used for agricultural irrigation. Data from the 2003 National Health Services Survey indicates that two-thirds of people in rural China do not have access to piped water. Leaving contaminated drinking water, which has been associated with increasing rates of digestive cancers and infectious diseases. 

In addition, climate change in China is an important health problem. China compared to other countries is very susceptible to the adverse effects of climate change. The Chinese government has paid attention to climate change, but have not paid attention to its health impact. China also deals with about 70% of the world’s electronic waste, which is a substantial risk to human health and the environment. 

Resource: 

Kan, Haidong. “Environment and Health in China: Challenges and Opportunities.” Environmental Health Perspectives, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dec. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799473/.

There are many actions China is taking to put over half a billion people in partial or total lockdown as the coronavirus continues to spread. China has relied on a variety of low and high tech measures to help enforce quarantine in vast areas of the country. They also added the incentive that citizens are financially rewarded for reporting others that don’t follow quarantine rules. “These methods reflect a decades-long history of social control now being mobilized on an unprecedented scale”(Feng). There are additional ways the local and national authorities are keeping their citizens in check about quarantine rules.

One of the actions that’s been taken is full-blow lockdown. Hubei province has had the most intense lockdown measures since it was the center point of the coronavirus outbreak with nearly three-fourths of the confirmed cases in China. Since the week of January 23, when the capital city of Hubei prohibited people from leaving, government officials across the province have gradually intensified efforts to keep people inside. In a household only one person can be sent out every three days to buy groceries, apartment compounds only allow people to use one gate, and everyone’s temperature is checked before entering. Nevertheless coronavirus cases still continue to increase, so the Hubei government began enforcing “the strictest, around-the-clock, closed management” for all residential complexes, banning the use of private cars, and not allowing people to leave their apartments without permission. In addition they require anyone buying cold medicine to reveal their temperature as well as the address and id number at the pharmacy. Many community officials are now buying and delivering the medication and groceries to cut down on people needing to leave the house.

Most of China that does not struggle with nearly as many coronavirus cases does not have as extreme controls as Hubei. Many cities across China have been using a monitoring scheme that breaks down areas into small grid-like units that are monitored and enforce regulations. These enforcements are made by community officials, which are a mix of paid employees and volunteers. If people refuse to cooperate with anything involving quarantine orders, the grid workers can call for backup from the local police. Each person is supposed to get their temperature taken when entering a complex and note if they recently left the city, but travel records rely on individuals self-reporting, which can result in lax control measures.

The number of grid workers patrolling the streets has increased to attempt to offset weak enforcement of the quarantine rules in some neighborhoods. For example the Zhejiang province has one of the highest rates of cases besides Hubei now has 33,000 grid workers supervising neighborhoods.

Resource:
Feng, Emily, and Amy Cheng. “Restrictions And Rewards: How China Is Locking Down Half A Billion Citizens.” NPR, NPR, 21 Feb. 2020, www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/21/806958341/restrictions-and-rewards-how-china-is-locking-down-half-a-billion-citizens.