南宋初年延续了宋朝建立的以各级官府为主导、社会民众力量为辅助的疫病防治体系。其中中央政府是防治瘟疫的核心力量,采取了医学、经济、政治等措施加以应对;地方官吏是宋代防治瘟疫的基层力量,采取了赈济灾民、医疗救治和加强社会管控等措施;民间医学家是防治疫病的中坚力量,大多亲赴灾区诊治病人,发放药物,公布医方,传播官方医学知识;普通民众对疫病的认识和态度极为复杂,采取的防疫措施也是多种多样。受自然灾害、宋金战争的影响,南宋初年诸路州县、军中和边境地区瘟疫流行的次数显著增加。在防治瘟疫过程中,除继续采取传统的赈济措施外,南宋社会对医药学知识给予了高度重视。这些措施的有效实施,在一定程度上控制住了疫情蔓延和疾病传播,在中国瘟疫防治史上做出了积极贡献。

In the Song Dynasty, the system of prevention, control and treatment of the plague was established and led by the governments at all levels, while other social forces worked as supplement. The central government was still the core that adopted various medical, economical, and political approaches to prevent and control the epidemic. Local officials were the grassroots forces for the prevention and control of the plague by helping the victims, treating patients, and strengthening social control. Medical doctors were the backbone of the epidemic prevention, most of them went to the disaster area to diagnose and treat patients, dispense medicines, publish medical prescriptions, and disseminate official medical knowledge. The attitudes of general public to the plague were extremely complex, and their anti-epidemic measures were multiple. Influenced by natural disaster and the war between the Song and Jin Dynasties, the epidemics in local, military and border areas increased significantly in the early Southern Song Dynasty. In the process of preventing and controlling the plague, in addition to continuing to take traditional relief measures, the Southern Song Dynasty paid great attention to medical knowledge. The effective measures not only controlled the spread of the epidemic and the disease, but also made great contributions to the development of plague prevention in China.