Mission impossible: the American schistosomiasis delegation's visit to China in 1975

According to the members’ research output prior to 1975, none had conducted studies of schistosomiasis in China. The campaign, which integrated mass mobilization, science, agricultural production, local construction projects, and preventive works, aimed at ultimately removing one of the obstacles to the development of agriculture.2 On June 30, 1958, Mao read reports in the newspaper People’s Daily that were related to eliminating schistosomiasis from Yujiang county in Jiangxi Province. Since 1958, the Chinese central government continuously promoted the idea that schistosomiasis had been controlled and the disease completely eradicated in 167 prefectures and cities, accounting for more than half of the total endemic areas. [...]the members of the ASD could not achieve the objectives of their trip. According to the ASD report, the information about schistosomiasis that the delegation had wanted to obtain was the following: the extent of schistosomiasis infection in China after the Cultural Revolution, especially the prevalence rates for different endemic areas; data, obtained through direct interviews with staff at institutions that had led the prevention campaign for the past 20 years; the expenditure by the central government on disease control and the localities of disease control; and the lessons learned by China from the prevention campaign that would be useful for other developing countries affected by the same disease.