1、The ministry of health here in China is now working with 15 other government agencies to try to control the rise in chronic diseases in this country.CRIs Shen Chengcheng has more.China currently has 260 million patients with chronic diseases.These illnesses account for around 85 percent of the total
2、 deaths in this country.Thats a 15 percent higher death rate than the United States.The most common chronic diseases here in China include heart disease, diabetes, cancer and respiratory diseases.Doctor Susan Henderson a the technical adviser for the Tobacco Free Initiative with the World Health Org
3、anization.I think there are three main reasons that are responsible for the rise in chronic diseases the first factor is diet, the second factor is decrease in physical activity and the third factor is tobacco use.Health authorities here in China have put out a 3-year plan to try to reverse this sit
4、uation.Under the plan, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Commerce Ministry will introduce more farm products on the market, along with making low-fat and low-salt food easier to get.The goal is to keep peoples daily salt intake under 9 grams.Research results show that a 3-gram reduction of salt in
5、take a day will lower the risk of a stroke by 15 percent.The Chinese governments 3-year plan also includes getting schools to ensure that children get at least one hour of exercise a day.Doctor Henderson says that move parallels what the authorites in the United States are trying to do.The Centers f
6、or Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least one hour a day in the United States. So the more activity that children get, the healthier they are.However, Susan Henderson notes getting people to change their habits is going to be one of the greatest challenges.Im a physician, so what I alway
7、s tell my patients is that you are not gonna be any good at your job if you cant do it any more, so by having one of these cardiovascular events like a stroke or a heart attack youll be completely incapacitated and so I think if people knew about the real risks of not exercising that they would be r
8、eally motivated to exercise more and build it to their schedule.The Chinese government has a goal of seeing at least 32 percent of its citizens engaged in constant physical exercise by 2015.And as for tobacco use, Doctor Henderson says getting people to quit smoking is going to be one of the major c
9、hallenges.There are certain things that are being implemented right now like telephone counseling quit lines and then also medications to assist people in quitting smoking the government is considering making these available and affordable for people.The Chinese governments overall plan is to see the smoking rate knocked down below 25-percent in the next 3-years.For CRI, Im Shen Chengcheng.
