BEIJING: The Chinese government is aiming to tackle obesity among its population of 1.4 billion, including the more than 50 per cent of adults who are overweight, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Some “comrades” find it difficult to control their weight, are overweight and even suffer from chronic diseases, said the minister of the National Health Commission, Lei Haichao, during a press conference on Sunday in Beijing on the sidelines of the People’s Congress.
To counter this, medical facilities are to disseminate more information on health in the coming years, the minister said.
Outpatient counselling centres are also to be set up.
Hotels are to be encouraged to equip their rooms with scales as standard practice so business people and others can monitor their weight.
Hunger, not obesity, once characterised China
Tackling obesity is relatively new for China - a country that experienced severe hunger crises in the middle of the last century.
In a press release last year announcing the country’s first multidisciplinary guidelines for obesity, officials acknowledged that “China has struggled for centuries to feed its vast population.”
Undernourishment - not obesity - was the main problem before reforms and an opening up of the economy in the late 1970s, it stated.
But rising prosperity has changed that. Now chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are currently a major threat to the Chinese population and are closely linked to lifestyle, Lei said.
And the outlook is not good. While the Health Commission reported that as of 2020, more than half of adults in the country were overweight, it said this could rise to 65.3 per cent by 2030.
