In memory of Mr. Wu Zunyou
Wu Zunyou, a well-known public health expert and chief epidemiological expert of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, passed away on October 27, 2023 at the age of 60 due to illness.
In 2005, Wu Zunyou was appointed Director of the China Center for Disease Control and STD AIDS Prevention and Control. In April 2017, he served as the Chief Epidemiological Expert of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the beginning of 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19, Wu Zunyou participated in the front-line work of prevention and control of China's COVID-19 and became familiar to the public.
Some friends in the medical and public health circles learned about Wu Zunyou's illness early last year, after all, anyone who falls ill must go to the hospital.
But people who understand the situation are striving to protect their privacy, so most people hardly see relevant information on the media or self media. I remember last year when news of Wu Zunyou's gray hair went viral, but many people thought he was just too tired. In recent years, Wu Zunyou has been at the forefront of public opinion, and any sentence will be repeatedly amplified and interpreted. There are some areas where he is not precise and can easily be amplified, such as a few viewpoints such as "intermittent detoxification", which are indeed not based on sufficient research evidence.
However, Wu Zunyou has made great contributions to China's public health, especially in the field of AIDS prevention and control, which is no doubt in the professional field.
Wu Zunyou conducts on-site research among drug users all year round, and through some strategies developed through frontline research, has significantly reduced the number of HIV infections in China (and also reduced the mortality rate). For example, the proportion of HIV transmission through injecting drugs in China has significantly decreased from 25.2% in 2009 to 2.5% in 2020. On the one hand, it is due to China's continuous strict drug control work, and on the other hand, it cannot be separated from the suggestions proposed by Wu Zunyou and others in the late 1990s, The spread of HIV among drug users has now been basically controlled.
His outstanding contribution in the field of HIV prevention and control was an important reason why the WHO awarded him the Mandela Health Promotion Award last year.
2. In the public health circle, many friends I know for disease control still hold Wu Zunyou in high regard. Everyone knows that in the past few years, whoever placed Wu Zunyou in that position will be scolded no matter what they say.
As an epidemiological expert in a purely technical public institution, Wu Zunyou's ability to change is actually limited.
In the past few years, many disease control individuals like Wu Zunyou have been working tirelessly, without returning home for weeks or even months. However, they have done the most work and received the most scolding. Three years ago, Academician Zhong Nanshan, who came from a clinical background, said: The status of domestic disease control centers is too low and has not received enough attention.
No one knows whether Wu Zunyou's pancreatic cancer is related to his hard work. But as a medical student, Wu Zunyou must know what it means to diagnose pancreatic cancer.
This patient is known as the "king of cancer" and has a five-year survival rate lower than the vast majority of other cancers. Pancreatic cancer is almost impossible to prevent, lacks effective screening methods, and has atypical early symptoms. Most patients are already in the middle and late stages when they go to hospital. There are some risk factors, such as advanced age, smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity.
But Wu Zunyou is not related to any of the above factors.
So it is often said that the onset of many cancers may only be due to one's fate, and sometimes it can only be said that it is bad luck, but this is not shameful.
He already knew the outcome, but even though he was seriously ill, he still chose to continue working.
In memory of Mr. Wu Zunyou.
