Abstract:
Enhancing infectious disease prevention and control systems and establishing a collaborative governance framework constitute fundamental requirements for advancing the modernization of social governance characterized by joint participation, shared responsibility, and collective benefits. These efforts also serve as critical indicators for evaluating a nation's governance capacity in the public health domain. Rooted in the contemporary context of public health governance transformation, this study systematically examines the theoretical foundations, evolutionary trajectories, and institutional safeguards of collaborative governance models. It innovatively constructs a multi-stakeholder governance framework with clear delineation of roles, responsibilities, and collaborative mechanisms across participating entities. The research proposes five strategic implementation pathways: (1) fortifying the rule of law through the Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, establishing a comprehensive governance architecture encompassing legislation, enforcement, and adjudication; (2) developing an integrated collaborative mechanism featuring “surveillance-early warning-response-evaluation” capabilities while strengthening cross-departmental data integration and joint prevention efforts; (3) cultivating a modern governance philosophy centered on “life-first and prevention-oriented” principles to forge value consensus and behavioral norms; (4) leveraging advanced technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to create interdepartmental information-sharing platforms; and (5) promoting medical-public health integration through mechanisms facilitating personnel exchange, information connectivity, and resource interoperability. Anchored in China's public health governance practices, this study distills a theoretically grounded framework with indigenous characteristics, offering scholarly insights for improving major epidemic response systems and contributing to global innovations in public health governance.