China must be better equipped to deal with threats from viral diseases such as SARS, influenza, HIV/AIDS and bio-terrorism, according to David Ho, inventor of the Cocktail Drug for curbing AIDS in its early stages, Shenzhen Daily reported Wednesday.

Ho, a Chinese American and director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research center with the Rockefeller University, was in Shenzhen on Tuesday to address the Nature China Voices Forum in the University Town of Shenzhen (UTSZ).

Ho said that in the past two decades, the world had been awed by China's single-minded determination to become a nation that was technologically advanced and economically strong and the country's economic growth was unprecedented.

"It is time, however, for China to place greater importance on the health of its population. Ultimately, this vitality priority will only be attained if the national epidemic surveillance system is significantly upgraded," Ho said.

Ho believes that more emerging infections, of which the biggest threat is the influenza virus, are inevitable in the near future as the history of the past century had attested. To improve China's preparedness for major microbiological threats, Ho believes the country must realize the short-term goals of training a critical mass of professionals, upgrading its primitive surveillance and alert system, and continue to increase transparency and lessen administrative control of the system, as well as the long-term goals of investing in basic research and improving healthcare infrastructure.

The Nature China Voices Forum was sponsored by the Nature Publishing Group, the Shenzhen graduate school of Qinghua University and UTSZ.

em>Source: Shenzhen Daily