China’s Public Health Challenges
China’s political and environmental challenges are often chronicled, but less attention has been paid to the public health issues that the nation’s move to developed nation status has caused.
That’s starting to change. In a good summary article in Yale Public Health, (pdf. of Fall issue on right side of linked homepage), Christina Larson offers a succinct account of the many issues confronting public health researchers and policy-makers in a nation with more than 170 cities of at least one million people (that’s right). As in any rapidly developing nation, China finds itself with a spike in chronic disease problems, while infectious disease issues have to an extent been dealt with. Today, the country is dealing with a high incidence of lung cancers (caused by a just silly smoking rate and by environmental toxins); diabetes; and — yes — obesity. Those iconic Beijing bikes are quickly giving way to cars, with the host of predictable negative health consequences you might expect.
The article goes on to explain that China is really a host of sub-populations, flung over a vast expanse and with wildly different problems. Interventions need to be carefully targeted to stand any chance of improving public health outcomes, but that targeting is itself challenging because of the dynamic, quickly changing nature of the nation and its people. Trying to glean useful data that screens out the “noise” is always a challenge for epidemiologists, but even more daunting under these conditions.
Steps are being taken, including the bellwether move of banning smoking in certain bars, but it will be vital for local, state, and global public health officials to “get smart” about the challenges they face, and soon. Time’s not on their side.
With these issues in mind, a contingent of health law professors from our law school is traveling to Southwest University in Chongqing next month, there to discuss, among other topics, global public health. Our expert on these issues, Michele Forzley, is a global public health expert with ties to WHO and the U.S. Department of Commerce; she is to speak on training legal and public health experts on confronting emerging issues. Her work is vital.
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