Beijing Publishes White Paper On Residents' Health Status

Beijing Municipal Government has publish a report on the sanitation and health status of Beijing permanent residents.

This is said to be the first time that Beijing has ever compiled a white paper on the health status of its citizens.

The white paper covers the incidence of illnesses, the incidence of various chronic and malignant diseases and the causes of death for people of various ages. In addition, it analyzes the growth of the city's children and youngsters, including their height, weight, eyesight and teeth development and the behavior that affects people's health, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and the intake of oil and salt.

The white paper shows that the average life expectancy of Beijing local residents was 80.47 in 2009, which was seven years longer than the national average. The white paper says that 30.3% of Beijing permanent residents aged between 18 and 79 years old suffering from high blood pressure and 8.6% of the people in this age group had diabetes: both ranking as the highest in the country. The report reveals that 59.09% of the primary school and middle school students in Beijing have poor eyesight. It also says that the rate of increase in average height of Beijing children slowed, while their average weight shows a significant increase.

Zhao Tao, a staff member of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau who had participated in the compiling of the report, said that the white paper shows the real situation of the health status of Beijing permanent residents with data and diagrams though it does not offer any comments, and they have released the white paper to draw the attention of the government to the state of health of the people.

As the first health related white paper in Beijing, the report just covers the health status of Beijing local residents, but Zhao said other permanent residents will gradually be included in the white paper in the future. Zhao stated that the health status of local residents is expected to serve as an important index in assessing the performance of a district or county government.

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