Continued from the last post.
What are the current problems that China’s health care system has to cope with?
Thanks to China’s publicly financed health programs providing basic care in the 1960s and 70s, over the course of the last half of the century many of China’s health indicators (e.g. life expectancy, maternal mortality, malnutrition) have steadily improved. But while China is in a much better health situation than most developing countries, problems still loom large.
In terms of mortality, China’s disease profile is similar to developed countries, meaning that 85%-90% of the deaths in China are caused by noncommunicable diseases and injuries. Stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and heart disease account for nearly 50% of all deaths, and much of this could be reduced by curtailing many of the risk factors in China, such as air, water, and sanitation quality; tobacco and alcohol consumption; diet and nutrition problems; and exercise deficiency. I will be very interested in seeing how the Chinese government deals with these things. I’ve seen concerted exercise efforts at least, but I know attempts to curtail smoking have been difficult to implement. As for the injury deaths, 28% are due to suicide, 25% due to road traffic injuries, and 11% due to drowning.
Compare some of these to the United States’ statistics (in 2006). The US’ top three killers are heart disease, cancer, and stroke; accidental injuries beat out suicide; and homicide actually sneaks into the top 15.
On the disease front, the major worries are:
- Tuberculosis: China is one of 22 high-burden countries, causing the death of 200,000 people yearly, with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis becoming an increasing public health threat (66,000 new cases every year).
- HIV: At the end of 2007, there were about 700,000 people living with HIV.
- Pandemics: China is also seriously concerned about diseases with a high epidemic potential, such as SARS, H5N1 (bird flu), and H1N1 (swine flu). It was the SARS scare at the beginning of the century which touched off the increased concern with public health among Beijing’s leadership.
- Certain preventable diseases: Diseases such as malaria and cholera continue to occur, especially in the tropical border provinces and poorer regions of the country.
The government has an Expanded Programme on Immunization, which covers TB, poliomyelitus, diptheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal meningitis, hepatitis A, rubella, mumps and measles, leptospirosis, anthrax, and epidemic hemorrhagic fever. The 11th Five Year Plan is seeking an immunization rate of more than 90% by 2010.
Next time I’ll get to the meat of this section, the actual steps taken by China to resolve their health care woes.
