[The Epoch Times, September 21, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Xu Jian comprehensive report) Experts warn that China facescancerheart disease anddiabetesand many other “hiddenEpidemic”, which could have far-reaching social, economic and demographic implications and could destabilize the CCP’s rule.
The British “Guardian” reported on September 21 that if China does not adopt strict public health policies now, tens of millions of Chinese may die from non-communicable diseases in the next few decades, but the Chinese people know very little about it.
variousEpidemicthreaten Chinese lives
According to a study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the largest cause of death among Chinese people is stroke, followed by heart disease, chronic lung disease and lung cancer. Smoking is one of the important causes of many diseases.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading killers in China, especially in the relatively industrialized and urbanized north, where people are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, obesity and poor diet.
while China’sdiabetesThere are more patients than any other country – more than 110 million, in what the World Health Organization (WHO) describes as an “explosive” problem. That number is expected to climb to 150 million by mid-century.
According to the World Health Organization, diabetes and related complications kill nearly one million people each year in China, with more than 40 percent of those deaths classified as premature (deaths under the age of 70), another worrying condition.
Of the world’s 1.1 billion smokers, more than one-third live in China, where about half of the male population is addicted to tobacco. According to current projections, by 2050, one in three young Chinese men will die from smoking-related diseases – including lung cancer, respiratory disease and heart disease.
That’s a grim statistic for a country with a plummeting birth rate and a rapidly ageing population. The United Nations predicts that by 2100, China’s population may drop from around 1.4 billion currently to around 1 billion.
Backlog of health problems ‘could get out of hand’
China is known as the world’s second largest economy, but the health of its people is the same as that of a very poor country.
The Chinese have a 14.1% chance of dying from non-communicable diseases, ranking 76th in the world health rankings, while South Korea ranks first with 4.7%, the United Kingdom ranks 27th with 9% and the United States ranks 44th with 11.8%.Expert analysis shows that the disease and medical pressure faced by the Chinese people are so great that they will threatenCommunist Partydomination.
Wang Feng, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, said that China’s decades-long backlog of social and health problems is emerging as “hidden epidemics, and they are enduring epidemics.”
He said, “The outbreak of dietary and nutritional intake problems in a short period of time, combined with an unforeseen and unprecedented ageing population, will be one of the biggest challenges facing China – not only for individual families, but for leadership as well. Posing a political challenge.” “This (epidemic) problem can really get out of hand,” he said. “It’s not going away.”
The Guardian took the example of Uncle Li, a farmer from Henan who suffers from type 2 diabetes. His medication costs 40-50 yuan ($7.90) a month, but his income is only 100-150 yuan, and he has no money to inject himself insulin. Experts have analyzed that if urgent action is not taken, the number of people with type 2 diabetes in China is expected to increase to 150 million by 2040.
The “Guardian” analysis, these diseases can not only kill these patients at an alarming rate, but also inCommunist PartyHuge health care costs under the rule are eating into large household incomes, threatening significant social, economic and political consequences, not least what Xi Jinping has called “”Common prosperity” flagship policy.
Getting sick is very expensive for Chinese families. According to the study, one in three Chinese face catastrophic health care spending — that is, more than 10 percent of their income goes to medical expenses, and an estimated 15 percent of the population spends more than 25 percent of their total income on health care.
According to Chen Xi, an associate professor of health policy and economics at Yale University, the medical burden of diabetes is higher than that of problems such as high blood pressure. The prevalence of diabetes was 2.5%. It is now 10% and growing, “that would be a disaster”.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#