Diabetes has become a major public health crisis in China. A recent collaborative research jointly conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity of CUHK, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University reveals a new approach that uses registries and community support to help improve diabetes care in China.
Latest estimates indicate that around half of the Chinese adults have prediabetes. Prof. Ronald C.W. Ma (front row, 2nd left) of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity said, ‘Given the increased long-term risk of complications in people with young-onset diabetes, the potential economic and health burden associated with this epidemic is very alarming. In 1993, the cost of diabetes treatment in China was 2.2 billion RMB, but the projected cost for 2030 is 360 billion RMB, which highlights the critical importance of prevention.’
Prof. Juliana C.N. Chan (front row, 2nd right), Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics and founding director of the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity, remarked, ‘While we await the results of long-term strategies from the China National Plan for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Treatment (2012–15) including tobacco control and universal screening for gestational diabetes, we advocate the use of a targeted proactive approach to identify people at high risk of diabetes for prevention, and private-public community partnerships that make care more accessible, sustainable, and affordable via registry, empowerment, and community support.’
The findings have recently been published in an international leading medical journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
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