The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted, without a vote, the resolution on capacity-building in the field of health as part of the follow-up to outcome of the Millennium Summit.

The resolution, drawn up by China and cosponsored by 173 member states, urged states to integrate public health into national economic and social development strategies, and to increase investment in improving developing country health systems.

It also emphasized the importance of active international cooperation in the control of infectious diseases and called for improving the global public health preparedness and response systems.

Zhang Yishan, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said when introducing the draft resolution that the international community was still confronted with serious challenges in the field of public health.

The threat of avian influenza and other infectious diseases was far from over, while national and international natural disasters had posed even more threats to public health systems, he noted.

Zhang pointed out that the international community should already have realized that the weakness of the public health system had become an outstanding problem for countries in their efforts to obtain comprehensive sustainable development against the backdrop of globalization.

He said public health was not an issue limited by national boundaries, but required close international and regional cooperation.

Only through joint efforts by all member states, could sustainable economic and social development be achieved, Zhang stressed.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2005)