On October 18, 2019, the National Monitoring Network for Fungal Diseases, directly led by the National Health Commission, was launched in Beijing, marking the successful establishment of a nationwide surveillance and monitoring network for fungal diseases.

Teams of clinical microbiologists in Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) have long been working on laboratory diagnosis and research for fungal pathogens. Since 2002, as the lead unit in China, PUMCH has organized five centers to participate in international fungal monitoring. In 2009, under the support of the former National Health and Family Planning Commission’s Committee of Rational Use of Medicine, Professor Xu Yingchun from the Clinical Laboratory of PUMCH steered the establishment of China Hospital Invasive Fungal Surveillance Net (CHIF-NET), the first hospital-based fungal monitoring network in China. After ten years, CHIF-NET has served 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions and established 9 province-level sub-centers, covering more than 200 centers and accumulating more than 20,000 cases of fungal infections, along with regularly released monitoring data.

In May 2019, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued the Notice on Establishing a Nationwide Fungal Disease Surveillance Network, designating PUMCH as the national center that is responsible for the overall design and daily operation of the monitoring network. The network consists of 31 provincial-level monitoring centers. The number of institutions under the network's coverage reached 717 as of Oct 16. A national web portal has also been unveiled. The new nationwide, scientifically graded fungal monitoring network has five main tasks including regular monitoring, proactive disease prevention and control, scientific research, proposing suggestions, and promoting development, which will substantially improve the diagnosis and treatment of fungal diseases and the rational use of antifungal drugs in medical institutions.

Mr. Li Dachuan (left), director of the Healthcare Management Division of Medical Affairs Administration of National Health Commission, and Dr. Chai Jianjun, deputy secretary of CCP Committee of PUMCH, at the unveiling ceremony

A group photo of the delegates of the nationwide fungal disease monitoring network