WHO: 3 million people in China killed annually by chronic illness
3 million people in China die prematurely from chronic diseases, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
It called on the country to step up efforts “to stop the tsunami of chronic disease”.
The organization said prevalence of many key risk factors in China is “worryingly high”. It said that over half of all men in the country are smokers, more than four in five adolescents do not engage in sufficient physical activity and around one in five adults have raised blood pressure.
“There is an urgent need for strong action now – to stop millions of Chinese men and women dying in their most productive years from diseases that can be prevented simply by changing common unhealthy lifestyle habits: smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, and not enough physical activity,” Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO’s representative in China, said.
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