In a bid to control chronic diseases the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese Ministry of Health opened a joint center in Beijing yesterday.

The new facility will be part of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and will focus on improving preventative measures against various chronic diseases in residential communities, officials said.

Chronic diseases, which include cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular problems, caused 80 percent of deaths in China between 1991 and 2000.

Lack of timely medical treatment and efficient preventative measures such as improving poor living habits and promoting public health education were the main reasons for the high levels of such diseases, experts said.

The purpose of the center is to gradually fill the gap between the high levels of disease and low capacity for prevention, said Wang Yu, director of CDC and the new center.

The center will collect and monitor the latest information on chronic diseases from around the country, he added.

It will also demonstrate various preventative activities to local communities such as the benefits of taking regular exercise and not smoking. It will also communicate the advanced disease control advice of the WHO, said Wang.

The WHO can gain experience from the center and enhance cooperation with Chinese authorities and experts, said Henk Bekedam, the organization's representative in China.

Among the 58 million deaths worldwide in 2005, as many as 35 million were as a direct result of various chronic diseases, according to WHO statistics.

A national survey in 2002 found that China had 160 million people suffering from hypertension who were at risk from various heart and brain diseases.

However, nearly 70 percent of them didn't know they were suffering from the illness and continued to lead unhealthy lifestyles, said Kong Lingzhi, deputy director of the Disease Control Bureau of the Ministry of Health.

Among those who were aware they suffered from hypertension, only 6 percent had effectively controlled the condition, she said. Currently 80 percent of medical resources in China were in big hospitals while community-level medical services remained weak.

The Ministry said nearly 1 million Chinese died from smoking-related diseases in 2000 which is more than the total from AIDS, tuberculosis, traffic accidents and suicide. Kong said half of the estimated two million deaths in 2020 would be aged between 35 and 64.

The center is expected to provide strong support and guidance for the development of community medical services in China, officials noted.

(China Daily May 10, 2006)