By staff reporter Li Hujun

Chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes and heart disease have become the major killer in China, responsible for 80 percent of death toll, according to a recent report from the World Bank.

Hypertension patients in China have reached 160 million, compared with 50 million in 1984. “It is disappointed to see such a rapid growth,” said World Bank public health expert Dean Jamison.

The surge in cases of chronic disease can be partly explained by a growing elderly population, but it’s clear unhealthy lifestyles are adding to problem. Ingesting too much salt, smoking and lack of exercise are the most often cited examples of harmful habits. Yao Keqin, director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Health, warned that the situation has become grave. “Chronic diseases are currently out of control in China,” he said.

Little attention is given to health in the typical Chinese lifestyles. The average daily ingestion of salt in China is 12 gram per person, twice of the recommended amount. And China’s smoking population is has ballooned in the last decades, now accounting for one third of the world smokers.

At the same time, public awareness of chronic diseases is severely lacking. According to a medical study by Rao Keqin and Dr. Liu Liyuan of Harvard University, only one-third of hypertension patients in China are aware of their illness before being diagnosed, and only one-forth of the patients receive medical treatment.

Rao said the medicines for hypertension are not expensive, but most patients don’t understand their situation and are unwilling to take treatment.

Ala Alwan, director of the World Health Organization (WHO), told Caijing that the government has a key role in preventing chronic diseases by intervening in the public’s cigarette consumption and the nutrition habits.

However, this role has long been neglected in China. Although China’s spending on public health has surged since the SARS Crisis in 2003, the expenditure spent on chronic diseases has been tiny.

Some experts are worried about that an epidemic of chronic diseases would hinder future medical reforms. Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Kong Lingzhi, deputy director of the MOH's disease prevention and control bureau, said in a article published in the British medical journal Lance that chronic diseases are becoming a financial burden for China, one that will eventually have to be reckoned with.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that in 2005 disease cost China 2.36 trillion yuan, of which two-thirds were related to chronic cases.

Rao Keqin told Caijing that China’s costs resulting from diseases accounted for 12.9 percent of GDP in 2005. If the current situation continues, the figure would expand to 20 percent by 2020.

Zhang Dafa from Beijing Municipal Labor & Social Security Bureau warned that the city’s medical insurance fund will not keep pace with such a sharp increase of medical expenditure.

Confronted the sobering situation, governments in several cities have begun to take steps to improve public health. Beijing’s municipal government is now promoting knowledge about healthy lifestyle and chronic diseases among its citizens. And Hangzhou City has also allocated money for a healthcare fund to prevent chronic diseases.

However, experts are calling proper policy measures to compliment increased financial input.