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Community-based diabetes prevention and control launched in Shanghai



Community-based services and education are the key to diabetes prevention and control, health officials from six cities participating in a diabetes management programme said at a roundtable conference in Shanghai on Thursday.To get more news about Wellness services, you can citynewsservice.cn official website.

Officials and medical experts from Tianjin, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Beijing and Chongqing shared their work on diabetes prevention and control and adopted a proposal to strengthen community health education and disease management for early detection and intervention.

Experts said the community is the most important place where people with diabetes can practice self-management and receive support. The community can provide an environment to cooperate with medical institutions, start screening of high-risk residents and patient management, and improve the treatment rate and regular management of diabetic patients.

There are 537 million people with diabetes worldwide, with an incidence of 10.5 per cent. This number is expected to increase to 783 million by 2045. In China, the incidence is 11.9 percent, which means that one in nine adults has diabetes.

Zhang Hao, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said Shanghai has established a comprehensive diabetes prevention and control system. It has fully improved community-based health facilities and their ability to diagnose and treat diabetes through detailed risk screening and classified patient management.

"As a next step, Shanghai will put forward a strategy of joint prevention and management of multiple chronic diseases to provide residents with a comprehensive, regular and integrated chronic disease management service, and strengthen the participation of government, society, family and people to build a healthy city," he said.

Dr Jia Weiping, director of the Management Office of National Grassroots Diabetes Prevention and Control, said the high prevalence of multiple chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, is a major health problem for China, seriously affecting people's average life expectancy and quality of life.

"Public policies, disease prevention, healthy environment and quality of life should be continuously renovated and changed to promote health," she said.

"We have established an extensive community-based diabetes prevention and control network, as all 240 neighbourhood health centres have diabetes screening capacity and clinical capability.

"So far, half of the diabetes patients in Shanghai are treated and managed in the community, which means that people can receive convenient and regular services close to their homes."