20世纪上半叶,我国传染病、寄生虫病和地方病肆虐,严重影响人民健康和生活,例如,1900—1949年的50年间,全国累计发生鼠疫115.6万人,病死率高达89.0％;天花月月出现,年年流行,数年一次大流行,每年死亡数以万计;血吸虫病流行于12个省,患病人达1000多万,威胁人口1亿以上;麻风患者达50万。1949年人均期望寿命仅有35岁。新中国成立后,政府十分重视疾病防制事业,坚持预防 In the first half of the 20th century, infectious diseases, parasitic diseases, and endemic diseases in China severely affected people’s health and lives. For example, during the 50 years from 1900 to 1949, cumulative 1.157 million plagues occurred throughout the country, and the mortality rate was as high as 89.0%; The emergence of the month, popular every year, a pandemic for several years, tens of thousands of deaths each year; schistosomiasis prevalent in 12 provinces, suffering more than 10 million patients, threatening population of more than 100 million; leprosy patients up to 500,000. The per capita life expectancy in 1949 was only 35 years old. After the founding of New China, the government attached great importance to the prevention and control of diseases and insisted on prevention.