President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said here today that the Philippine government would adopt china’s three-pronged approach against the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in fighting communicable diseases.

At a briefing on SARS conducted by Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua at the White Swan Hotel here, the President said China’s campaign against SARS is a "good lesson and practice" that the Department of Health (DoH) could adopt.

The campaign focuses on increasing public awareness on the disease, promoting hygienic practices, and maintaining health and physical activities.

"It is a good campaign not only for the SARS but also for other communicable diseases, the President said.

The President decided to make Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, as the first step of her three-day state visit to the People’s Republic of China.

Guangdong became the center of the SARS epidemic last year with 15 cities in the province, registering record cases of SARS. A total of 1,512 residents in Guangdong were affected by SARS. Of this number, 1,454, or 96.2 percent, recovered, while 58 patients died.

This year, SARS reappeared in the province affecting four residents but who were eventually cured.

Huang said timely intervention, preventive measures, and use of Chinese traditional medicine and Western medicine "brought the disease under control."

"We stepped up efforts to monitor the progress of the disease and to provide early treatment," Huang informed President Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Philippine leader thanked Guangdong officials for the briefing, which, she said, would be of use to the Philippines in "fighting and preventing SARS from happening."

"All countries stand to benefit from China’s experience on SARS," she said.

The President lauded Gov. Huang for his country’s success in fighting SARS and preventing it from becoming a killer disease for the second year.

In his briefing, Gov. Huang admitted that Guangdong was "caught unprepared" last year when SARS broke out and that the Chinese government had to make a lot of preventive measures to contain the disease while at the same time maintain social stability and socio-economic development.

Significantly, despite the SARS outbreak, Guangdong posted a 13.6 percent growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) compared to 11.7 percent in 2002.

"The SARS epidemic did not affect out economic growth," Gov. Huang said.