 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
China faces crisis due to unhealthy lifestyles, report warns
Beijing (AFP) Oct 20, 2008 China faces a looming health crisis if efforts are not made to tackle the effects of changing diets and lifestyles due to rising standards of living, medical experts warned in a report published on Monday. The report published in The Lancet medical journal is the latest to warn that the worsening diets and other unhealthy habits of increasingly wealthy Chinese threaten to trigger epidemics of heart and lung disease. It offered praise for China's efforts over the decades to curb infectious diseases -- once the country's predominant health threat. But it noted that Chinese people were becoming victims of the country's steadily rising standards of living. "The pace and spread of behavioural changes including changing diets, decreased physical activity, high rates of male smoking and other high-risk behaviours has accelerated to an unprecedented degree," said the report in the Britain-based journal. It said 177 million Chinese adults suffer from hypertension, which it blamed in part on high salt consumption. Another 300 million people smoke, the vast majority of them men, and 530 million are exposed to second-hand smoke. "If present smoking rates continue, 100 million Chinese men will die between 2000 and 2050, with many of their family members squandering life savings in desperate attempts at treatment," it warned. It called on China's government to launch campaigns to discourage smoking and the intake of salt and fat. Failure to do so could result in an onerous health and economic burden on the country, it said. "The burden of chronic diseases, preventable morbidity and mortality and associated health-care costs could now increase substantially," said the report by Chinese and Western health experts. They also noted that increasing car use and the watching of television were contributing to more sedentary lifestyles that compounded the health problems. Such gloomy health predictions have become common in recent years as Chinese waistlines have expanded along with the nation's booming economy. More than 25 percent of Chinese adults were now considered overweight or obese, researchers writing in the US journal Health Affairs in July warned. Related Links Hospital and Medical News at InternDaily.com
Chinese drug firm recalls all injection products after deaths
Beijing (AFP) Oct 18, 2008The Chinese manufacturer of a ginseng injection that killed three people has recalled all its injection products, the country's drug safety watchdog said Saturday. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement |
