China facing burden from chronic diseases

China faces a growing burden on its health care industry as the number of people with chronic diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes rises, the government said Friday.

The Health Ministry said in a report that 260 million Chinese - or about 20 percent - suffer from chronic diseases, an increase of 4.9 percent compared to 2003. The figure has been increasing by an average of 10 million every year for the last decade, the agency said.

The government - which said it polled 200,000 people across 31 provinces - found that cases of heart disease and cancer had doubled, while cases of hypertension and diabetes had tripled.

"It shows that the field of medicine and health care around the country is facing a great task and challenge," the report said.

Chen Yu-De, a professor at the School of Public Health at Peking University, said lifestyles are changing as the economy develops and people are living longer, leading to an increase in cases of chronic disease. Chen headed up the expert team for the survey.

"Before, people would have died of chronic diseases, but now they live a long life with them," he said.

The government has made a priority of treating chronic disease, which accounts for 80 percent of the deaths in China, he said.

Rao Keqin - a Health Ministry statistics director who led the survey - said that despite some improvement in medical facilities, there is still poor training for medical staff.

But Rao said that improved insurance coverage for peasants has eased some of the problems of access and high expenses.

China announced a plan in January to spend 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) on health reform by 2011 after the public heavily criticized soaring medical fees and limited access to affordable heath care.

The national plan - which aims to provide universal medical care - will try to increase the number of people in urban and rural areas covered by basic medical insurance, provide access to basic drugs under government control and reform hospitals.

In the U.S. almost half of all Americans live with at least one chronic condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, or 133 million people in 2005. They account for 70 percent of all deaths.

The Chinese have become increasingly heath conscious, with more people exercising and less people smoking, the report said.

But the frequency that smokers light up has increased, with 62 percent of people smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day last year compared to 51 percent in 2003.

The report - which said that 270 million Chinese smoke - did not specify how much the overall smoking rate had decreased.

---

Associated Press researcher Zhao Liang contributed to this story in Beijing.