China will, together with the World Health Organization (WHO), formulate a new plan for chronic disease prevention and control, said vice health minister Wang Longde at a press conference on the current conditions of Chinese people's nutrition and health held by the Information Office of the State Council on October 12.

Along with the rapid rising of chronic diseases, the Chinese public is now facing double challenges--harm of infectious diseases and impact on health by chronic diseases. A survey showed that among the Chinese labor force aged between 15 and 64, the occurrence rate of chronic diseases had reached 52 percent, resulting in a death rate of 30 percent, which will cause huge impact and loss on the economic and social development. So the control of chronic diseases has become a top priority task.

State leaders have fully noticed the change, said Wang. The Ministry of Public Health changed in 1994 its epidemic prevention department into today's disease control department, and, during the ninth (1996-2000) and tenth Five Year plan periods (2001-05), formulated respectively prevention and control plans for chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, as well as conducted a series of intervention programs, which achieved very good results, especially those carried out in community-level health institutions in some cities. According to the results of the first ever "survey on nutrition and health conditions of Chinese residents", China is also to formulate new chronic disease prevention and control plan together with WHO, gradually increase government input to better control the impact on people's health by chronic diseases.

Low public awareness of proper nutrition, lack of knowledge in this regard and weak governmental guidance are main causes of rising chronic diseases in China, Wang said frankly.

To tackle the problem, this high official said the Chinese government will push forward its work in three aspects--policy support, market guidance and public education. The first includes formulation of related laws and regulations and incorporation of relevant work into the 11th Five Year Plan; the second refers to scientific instruction on agriculture, food processing and dietary supplement so as to produce more food of proper nutrition; the third aspect aims at using science to enhance public's awareness of proper food-taking habits.

By People's Daily Online