Interesting Stories

New moves to guide buying of medical equipment

2007-11-29T21:22:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, July 28 -- The Ministry of Health will get professional advice in the purchase of medical equipment in a bid to clean up the corruption-plagued healthcare sector.

A 800-member team of medical and healthcare experts has been formed by the China Medical Equipment Association (CMEA), under the ministry.

The team is tasked with securing quality medical equipment at reduced costs.

"The team will draw up a recommended list of medical equipment after examination of information provided by manufacturers about their products," said CMEA Director Li Banling.

The assessment will take into consideration the practical needs of all involved partners, including the government, hospitals and medical equipment manufacturers, Li said.

To guarantee an open, fair assessment, members of the team will be randomly selected for each task.

"No medical institution above county level will be allowed to evade the purchasing conducted by the medical authorities," said Zhao Zilin, director of the ministry's Budget and Financial Planning Department.

Each item of equipment bought by hospitals must be on the recommended list, he said.

"The ultimate goal is to benefit the general public in terms of a reduction in health expenditure," Zhao said.

China's total medical health expenditure was more than 800 billion yuan in 2006, according to official statistics.

About half of it was shouldered by patients.

Healthcare insiders said many medical institutions purchase unnecessary state-of-the-art equipment, to realize fat profits from patients.

To relieve the burden on the public from over-priced health services, the government has kept capping the price of a variety of medicines, but not the fees for physical check-ups.

The government will invite bids and use competitive negotiations in its collective purchasing of equipment, to be undertaken by the Ministry's International Communication and Cooperation Center.

"All stakeholders, the government and the producers alike, should practice self discipline to jointly contribute to 'transparent purchasing'," said Li Hongshan, director of the center.

Gerard Kleisterlee, Philips' president and chief executive officer, said he expects the market to grow about 10 per cent over the next three years, making it the third-largest medical equipment market, after the United States and Japan.

In the next five to seven years, the Chinese market is expected to surpass Japan to become the world's second-largest medical equipment market.

(Source: China Daily)

Myanmar bans outbound package tour

2007-11-29T21:12:00.001-08:00

YANGON, Oct.

8 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has banned outbound package tour arranged by domestic travel and tour companies, the local Voice journal reported Monday.

Meeting with hoteliers and businessmen from travel agencies in Nay Pyi Taw recently, Director of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism U Hlaing Win said that domestic travel agencies are allowed only to arrange inbound package tour services within the country for domestic and foreign travelers but not for outbound package tour services for them.

The official warned of taking action against companies which break the tourism-related rules and regulations.

However, whether the package tours such as pilgrimage, Singapore and Bangkok ones being introduced by some companies are covered by the ban or not, remained unclear, the report said.

According to the ministry figures, there are 733 registered travel and tour companies in Myanmar.

Tourist arrivals in the country through Yangon entry checkpoint alone hit over 47,000 in the first four months (April-July) of the fiscal year 2007-08, up 20 percent from 2006-07 correspondingly, other local reports said.

These tourists came in the form of free independent traveler and package tour.

During the period, visitors with other visas reached over 26,000, up 5 percent correspondingly, the report added.

According to local statistics, in 2006-07, a total of 654,602 foreign tourists visited Myanmar, gaining 198.48 million U.S.

dollars, an increase of 11.4 percent compared with the previous year.

Of the 654,602 tourists visiting Myanmar in 2006-07, 276,613 entered through Yangon checkpoint, 5,763 through Mandalay and Bagan checkpoints and 372,226 through border checkpoints, the figures show.

Of the types of tours, package tour accounted for 25 percent, while free independent traveler 47 percent and the rest with other visas 28 percent.

The tourists visiting Myanmar mostly came from Thailand, China, South Korea and Japan in Asia, Germany, France and Italy in West Europe and some countries in North America.

Myanmar so far has over 600 hotels with 23,000 rooms, in addition to the 733 travel companies.

Shanghai sets up shelter in case of emergency

2007-11-29T21:01:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, July 31 -- Emergency underground shelters have been set up in the city's Minhang District to hold up to 100,000 residents in case of chemical leaks, typhoons or gas explosions, Shanghai civil defense officials announced on Monday.

Abo

HK experts reveals lupeol in fruits helps combat cancer

2007-11-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

HONG KONG, Oct.

16 (Xinhua) -- A study found that a substance called "lupeol" contained in fruits may help beat head and neck cancer, announced the University of Hong Kong which made the result public here Tuesday.

The study, conducted by the university's Faculty of Medicine, revealed that lupeol, a compound rich in fruits, selectively targeted and killed cancer cells.

Using a mouse animal model, lupeol dramatically decreased tumor volume and suppressed local metastasis while bearing minimal effect on surrounding tissue and other vital organs like liver and kidney.

Interestingly, lupeol was found to be more effective and more potent than conventionally used chemotherapeutic drug, cisplatin, by approximately three-fold in terms of tumor volume and degree of metastasis suppression.

Besides, when lupeol was used in combination with cisplatin, the anti-tumour activity of the chemotherapeutic drug could be enhanced by 40-fold.

The above research result was published in the international scientific journal Cancer Research in September, 2007.

Head and neck cancer includes cancers of the nose, oral cavity, salivary gland, etc.

In the year 2004, 2,087 new cases were diagnosed in Hong Kong, with the number of new cases increasing steadily every year.

Human papilloma virus infection, alcohol and tobacco consumption and low fruits and vegetables intake all contribute to the increased risk of head and neck cancer development.

The university was in the hope that the findings will also show people that only a slight change in their everyday meal or a small change in their choice of food intake may have an astounding impact on cancer prevention and therapy.

Have a warm feeling all night long

2007-11-28T05:51:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

22 -- As temperatures start to drop, most party goers don't go out as often as they do in the summer.

The cold wind chills both the body and the heart when people shuffle between pubs or between bars and home.

So here we offer a list of 24-hour coffee shops in Beijing and Shanghai.

People can come here in the sunshine and leave them in the day as well.

While they stay inside, they can have warm drinks, books as well as likeminded souls.

Academy, WHO standardize medical terms

2007-11-28T05:41:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

17 -- Terminologies of traditional medicine should no longer be lost in translation.

The world's first document listing international standard terminologies of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was jointly launched in Beijing yesterday by the World Health Organization(WHO) and China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS).

The document contains nearly 4,000 terms covering eight categories including basic theories, disease, acupuncture, and medical treatments, each with English rendering, definition and descriptions and a Chinese version, up to 90 percent of which are commonly used TCM today.

"It's a great pioneering undertaking and a milestone for the promotion of TCM globally," said Cao Hongxin, the director with CACMS, which was entrusted by the Western Pacific Region Office (WPRO), WHO to compile the works.

He said uniform terminologies would be applied in present day education, practice, research, and information exchanges.

Originated from ancient China, TCM has developed and thrived in neighboring countries of the Western Pacific Region, sometimes with certain variations in accordance with local languages and practices.

That's why some 10 percent of the terms included in the document are from traditional Korean medicine, Kampo medicine of Japan, and traditional Vietnamese medicine, Xie Zhufan, a TCM professor with Peking University, told China Daily.

Xie participated in the work with counterparts from other countries.

"Given the recent rapid increase in the worldwide use and exchanges of time-honored medical science, the document just meets the pressing need of traditional medicine practitioners for a common language," Seung-hoon Choi, regional traditional medicine adviser at WPRO, said.

Considering constant updates to the rapidly developing science, the terminologies would be renewed every three to five years, Choi said.

"Notably, standardization of traditional medicine is a key step to facilitate the science, which is proved by the past experience to be safe, effective, easy, and cost-efficient, going worldwide and benefiting the human race," Choi said.

A great number of foreigners nowadays turn to TCM for disease prevention and health maintenance, when modern medicines don't work well enough.

However some foreign quarters have downplayed the benefits of TCM and said they should be used in tandem with modern medicines.

"However, that doesn't alter one of our long time missions, to promote traditional medicines among member countries," Choi said.

"It heals diseases." Choi is one of four out of 3,000 health experts with WHO, who specialize in traditional medicine.

(Source: China Daily)

Preventive healthcare targeted

2007-11-28T05:30:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

17 -- Preventive healthcare initiatives feature largely in the blueprint for China's medical reform, a key official closely involved in the policymaking revealed.Ge Yanfeng, deputy chief of the social development research department under the Development Research Center of the State Council, made the remarks on Monday at the one-day Summit of the Pacific Health Forum held in Beijing.

"The most urgent issue is how to make the prevention-oriented healthcare approach become a reality, and how to efficiently persuade Chinese citizens and medical institutions to be more proactive about health issues," Ge told China Daily.

Ge said the proposal was still at an early stage.

However, he urged the government to invest more in the health sector and offer more free health services to prevent diseases.

Most preventive medical measures are not presently covered by the umbrella of health insurance.

Many costly and disabling conditions - cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes - are linked to preventable risk factors, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which highly recommends member countries integrate prevention medical services into public healthcare.

"For that, the government is obliged to extend support with favorable policies and systems," Ge said, adding the current medical system was unable to achieve that goal effectively since most hospitals are more "business or market-orientated."Currently, the government only subsidizes a mere 5 percent of the actual running costs of public or State-owned hospital, a major source for medical care.

As a result, some hospitals have reportedly "cashed in" on patients by over-prescribing drugs and ordering unnecessary medical checks for patients.

"The government is aware of that and is working to revamp the system, which in fact conflicts with public health," Ge said.(Source: China Daily)

Unified code name system for drugs set for year-end launch

2007-11-28T05:20:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

17 -- China will launch a long-awaited unified code name system in the pharmaceutical industry, probably by the end of this year, one of the persons responsible for drafting the system said yesterday in Shanghai.

All medicines in

China to promote hygiene certificates for restaurants by year's end

2007-11-28T05:10:00.001-08:00

WUHAN, Oct.

17 (Xinhua) -- Ninety-five percent of China's catering establishments will have a certified hygiene grade by the end of this year as part of a nationwide effort to improve food safety, a senior health official said on Wednesday.

Health departments would issue four grades from A for the best restaurants to D for the worst in accordance with their basic hygiene facilities, said Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong at a conference on catering consumption safety in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province.

Health departments would strengthen supervision of restaurants with low grades and advise the public against eating in such restaurants, Chen said.

The Health Ministry started the hygiene grading system in 2002,but for "various reasons", it was poorly implemented in some areas.

Only Beijing, Shandong and Sichuan provinces have relatively high rates of hygiene grading among restaurants.

Meanwhile, collective canteens and catering establishments above county-level are also required to check suppliers' hygiene certificates when buying raw materials by the end of this year, according to Chen.

Asian surgeons gather in Beijing for comprehensive therapy for diseases

2007-11-28T05:00:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

20 (Xinhua) -- Asia's top surgeons gathered here Saturday at the 16th Asian Congress of Surgery and third Chinese Surgical Week to discuss comprehensive therapy for diseases like cancer.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi wrote a letter to congratulate the opening of the meeting, saying that she hoped surgeons from different fields to join hands in research so as to push forwards the science of medicine and benefit the health of human beings.

"Diseases like cancer have claimed lots of lives in the world.

It is always the task for doctors to relieve people from pain," she said in the letter.

The meeting attracted more than 3,500 surgical experts across Asia who will attend 220 lectures under 30 subjects, said Zhao Yupei, president of the congress and director of the surgery branch of Chinese Medical Association.

"At the congress, we will break the boundary of subjects and discuss comprehensive therapies for different diseases, especially those new and hard to treat," he said.

Some latest research findings will be introduced at the meeting and manuals on pancreatic cancer therapy, suture methods of abdominal wall and surgical site infection will be released, he said.

Survey: Almost half of Chinese over 40 suffer from osteoarthritis

2007-11-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

22 (Xinhua) -- Almost half of Chinese over the age of 40 suffer from osteoarthritis, which is caused by bone and cartilage damage around the joints which can be the result of old age and injuries, according to a recent survey.

The survey of 6,000 Chinese over 40 in six

Migrants set to boost Beijing population to 20 million by 2020

2007-11-28T04:39:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

22 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's booming economy is drawing in economic migrants who look set to boost the population figures of the Chinese capital by almost five million over the next 12 years, according to a study released on Monday.

The report, called "Forecasting the Population of Beijing in the Future", predicts that the capital's population will soar to 20 million by 2020.

Although the natural birth rate of the city has seen zero growth for the last 5 years, Beijing's population has expanded because of the numbers of incoming residents, including the newly permanent residents who have been granted "hukou", or permanent residence certificates, and the migrants, according to the report, released by Institute of Population Research of Peking University.

Chen Gong, associate professor of the institute and one of the co-authors of the report, suggested that the total fertility rate of women in Beijing should be increased to 1.63, which means a woman should give birth to more than one child on average during her lifetime.

Beijing had 15.6 million permanent residents at the end of last year, a rise of 1.4 percent, or 220,000 people, from 2005, according to the city's family planning committee.

The report also predicted that the city's aged population would see a 12 percent hike in the next 20 years, bringing more challenging demographic social problems for the local government.

Growth in the capital's population figures in the past five years has been phenomenal.

The population has increased by over 10million, making it among the world's most populous cities.

China vows to prevent spread of communicable diseases via air travel

2007-11-28T04:29:00.001-08:00

XI'AN, Oct.

22 (Xinhua) -- The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) signed an international pact in Xi'an on Monday, pledging to prevent the spread of communicable diseases via air travel.

Yang Guoqing, deputy head of CAAC, signed the "Cooperative Arrangement for Preventing the Spread of Communicable Diseases through Air Travel" (CAPSCA) with Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, president of the Council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), at the 44th Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation Asia and Pacific Region in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an.

Yang said he hoped to ensure passengers clean and safe air travel through the agreement and CAAC's efforts.

CAAC has selected two experienced aeronautical medical experts to join an expert panel of ICAO that will make evaluations about the precautionary measures on diseases taken by the airports in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Yang said.

The CAPSCA project was jointly initiated by the ICAO, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and the Airports Council International (ACI) with the aim of reducing the risk of spreading avian influenza and similar communicable diseases by air travel.

Drug addicts may face three-year isolated drug rehabilitation programs

2007-11-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

24 (Xinhua) -- Drug addicts in China may be forced to attend compulsory isolation rehabilitation programs lasting up to three years, according to a draft law tabled to China's top legislature on Wednesday.

"The term of compulsory isolation rehabilitation programs is tw

Study: Bird flu can pass from mother to fetus

2007-11-28T04:08:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

27 -- Pregnant women infected with the H5N1 bird-flu virus can pass the deadly disease to their unborn babies, a study by Chinese experts has found.

But the discovery does not mean a global pandemic is at hand, Gu Jiang, director of the School of Basic Medical Sciences affiliated to Peking University, which led the study, said.

"So far, no substantiated case of interhuman transmission has been observed," Gu said.

"It largely depends on how the virus further mutates." Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, said the passing of the virus from mother to fetus was not really a case of human-to-human transmission as the two effectively function as a single body.

By studying tissues taken from the body of a 24-year-old pregnant woman killed by bird flu, Gu discovered the virus had passed through her placenta to infect the fetus.

Gu said his research project, which also involved studying tissue from a 35-year-old man killed by the virus, was the eighth of its kind worldwide.

He said that as well as being found in the woman's placenta, the virus was detected in the alimentary canal, brain, blood cells and respiratory tract of both victims.

It was also found in the lungs and liver of the fetus.

The findings have great significance for treatment and prevention, Gu said.

"For example, blood and feces from people infected with the virus must be handled extremely carefully to avoid further spreading of the disease." (Source: China Daily)

Shanghai's men aren't as tough as they think they are

2007-11-28T03:58:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Octt.29 -- Frailty, thy name is man.

So said China's doctors yesterday on the eighth "Men's Health Day".Men in China are widely affected by bad living habits, a lack of awareness about mental and physical health issues, and a lack of exercise.

Shan Li, a psychologist with the DRM Professional Counseling, said men are more heavily burdened with "social responsibilities".

"They live in poorer 'mental circumstances' and have poorer life quality than women in general, often frustrated but don't feel free to vent their emotions," Shan said.

Zhang Kan, a psychologist, said: "Men have shorter life expectancy than womenan undeniable part of the reason lies in the psychology".

Professor Gu Jun from the Shanghai University said men frequently are burdened with the pressure of changing social circumstances with work, marriage troubles, and at times difficulties with children.

Shanghai Women's Federation (SWF) found that some 20 percent of complaints it received were from men.

This has sparked calls from some quarters that there was a need for a federation for men.

An unidentified man at a free consultation for women at SWF said he was a victim of domestic violence, and needed help.

"There is no such a thing as a men's federation," he said.

"So I am here." Other statistics show men have a general laxsidasical attitude towards health issues.

Figures from the 411 Hospital in Shanghai showed that 90 percent of men don't know they should or believe they should have an annual health check.

Twenty percent of men never do any kind of physical exercise.

Many claimed they did not want to exercise because they were busy, tired, or focused too much on other "more important" matters.

Men, more than women are also more likely drink, smoke and get ill.

Huang Qiming, a urologist with 411 Hospital said occurrences of male diseases such as prostate problems, tumors on the genitals, and male sterility, were rising.

Common diseases like cardiovascular problems kill more men than women, Huang said.

(Source: China Daily)

Ministry: China's pig epidemic under control

2007-11-28T03:47:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

29 (Xinhua) -- China has brought blue-ear pig disease under control, Gao Hongbin, vice minister of agriculture, said at a press conference held here on Monday.

The disease, which has been on the decline since it peaked in June, has been checked within all the epidemic outbreak areas, he said.

By Oct.

25, the highly pathogenic disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, had infected 310,134 pigs in 1,030 epidemic outbreaks in 304 counties of 26 Chinese provincial areas, of which 81,030 died and 235,380 were culled, he said.

The dangerous husbandry disease can be fatal for pigs and is highly infectious.

There is no effective cure to it, but vaccinated pigs are immune.

The disease does no harm to human beings.

China has been carrying out a vaccination program and has tightened supervision on the transportation, trading and slaughtering of pigs to combat the disease, said Gao.

The epidemic has caused pork supply shortage and fuelled price rises in recent months, which resulted in a 6.5-percent increase in the consumer price index in August, an 11-year high.

Central and local governments have promised a fund of 14.6 billion yuan (1.9 billion U.S.

dollars) this year to encourage farmers to raise pigs and boost pork supplies.

By Oct.

18, the average price of pork in Chinese shops had dropped 11 percent from its peak in August.

Yet pressure on inflation from foodstuffs remained.

For instance, in one week in October the price of peanut oil soared 10percent in a single week in southern China's Guangdong Province.

China's consumer price index rose by 4.1 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2006, and the annual rate is expected to hit 4.5 percent by the year end.

Chinese police have arrested the producers of fake vaccines believed to have caused an outbreak of the blue-ear pig disease in central China's Hubei Province, the ministry of Agriculture said on Sunday.

A stock farm in Jiangling county of Hubei bought a batch of vaccine for the blue-ear pig disease in June through an illegal channel from Beijing, which resulted in an outbreak of the deadly pig epidemic, causing nearly 1 million yuan (133,690 U.S.

dollars) of loss, said a ministry spokesman.

Investigations showed that the vaccines were fake products without any production licence and that the company did not exist.

Beijing police have arrested a key suspect and smashed three workshops that made the fake vaccine.

China raises threshold for drug GMP certification

2007-11-28T03:37:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

29 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of several drug production scandals the Chinese government has tightened up application procedures for firms seeking to manufacture drugs.

The threshold to qualify for a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification has been raised and will come into effect on Jan.

1 next year.

"The new standards are stricter in granting GMP certificates to drug manufacturers," said Bian Zhenjia, director with the drug safety supervision department under the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), China's drug watchdog.

Before revision, if less than three "severe defects" as defined in the standards were discovered in the entire drug making process, the manufacturers could still get a certificate if they corrected the problem within a prescribed time limit.

The new standards, however, allow no "severe defects" according to Bian.

"The new standards have strengthened supervision over weak links in quality control of drug manufacturers," Bian said.

The revised standards comprise 259 articles, an increase of 34 articles from the current standards which were put into effect in 1999.

And the "key" articles have been augmented from previous 56 to 92, according to Bian.

"The changes mainly dwell on technological requirements on management which concerns areas including personnel qualifications, production process, quality control and document verification in a bid to ensure drug quality," Bian explained.

The new standards also stipulate that companies falsifying application documents shall be regarded as having a "severe defect," meaning they will fail the GMP certification.

NE China reserve sees record number of migrating cranes

2007-11-28T03:27:00.001-08:00

HARBIN, Oct.

28 (Xinhua) -- A natural reserve in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has seen a record number of migrating hooded cranes, an endangered crane species, sources with the reserve said on Sunday.

Since mid-October, more than 2,000 hooded cranes have migrated into the Zhalong State Nature Reserve, a major habitat for cranes in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said Li Changyou, deputy director of the reserve.

"About 1,000 hooded cranes would stay at the reserve every autumn before heading south to spend the winter.

But it's the first time that the reserve received so many hooded cranes since its establishment in 1979," Li said.

According to Li, the reason for the rise may be a remarkable increase in total numbers of such cranes, or because changes have occurred to other habitats and forced the cranes to head for Zhalong.

The hooded crane, or Grus monacha, is a kind of small dark crane with white head and neck.

It is one of the 15 most endangered crane species in the world, with a population between 9,400 to 9,600.

The 210,000-hectare Zhalong reserve, located in Qiqihar of western Heilongjiang, is one of China's major habitats for cranes, and the country's largest artificial breeding center for the red-crowned cranes, also a protected crane species.

Minister: five highly poisonous pesticides to be banned

2007-11-28T03:17:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

30 -- The production of five highly poisonous pesticides will be banned to ensure the safety of agricultural products, a senior official said Monday.

Gao Hongbin, vice minister of agriculture, made the announcement at a media briefing where he reported the progress of the country's campaign on food safety and product quality.

Since the country has banned the use of the five pesticides, including methamidophos, in agricultural production from Jan.

1, the ministry plans to forbid all factories from producing such pesticides, Gao said.

Currently, 16 factories are producing the pesticides, mostly for export, he told the news conference organized by the State Council Information Office.

The vice minister admitted that if production were allowed, even only for export, the pesticides could be used domestically.

Ministry figures show that the export volume for the five banned pesticides is about 20 million U.S.

dollars a year.

Last year, about 28,000 tons were shipped to 60 developing countries including Brazil, India and Argentina.

Gao said the ministry is also considering drafting a regulation on the labeling of pesticides to make it clearer and easier to read.

The issue of Chinese product quality came into the spotlight after a spate of safety scares around the globe earlier this year.

In response, the State Council launched a four-month campaign in late August to improve quality.

The ministry reported that it had revoked the licenses of seven enterprises for the production of highly poisonous pesticides and confiscated 479 tons of illegal pesticides during the campaign.

The latest random check of 100 wholesale markets across the country showed that 94 percent of vegetables, 99 percent of animal products and 95 percent of aquatic products tested meet drug residue standards, all higher than before the campaign.

Gao said the measures are not temporary.

"The campaign will end at the year-end, but these policies won't," he said.

(Source: China Daily)

Drug center in Shanghai to tackle cancer and diabetes

2007-11-28T03:06:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Oct.

30 --Shanghai's first international drug development center was launched Monday to help Chinese researchers and patients become involved in international trials for new medicines.

The Pharma Development Center in China, which is backed by the international pharmaceutical company Roche, is a high tech drug development center designed to effectively carry out all the stages of drug development from discovery to clinical development, trials and official paper work.

According to Franz Humer, chairman and CEO of Roche, the primary budget for the center is 100 million U.S.

dollars and it will target cancer and metabolic diseases like diabetes.

Clinical development ensures with rigorous checks that new medicines can be delivered safely to patients.

Previously the development process has been carried out in Europe or North America.

"Chinese patients have had to wait four to five years for medicines which had already been approved in the United States or Europe for the clinical tests needed in China," said Jean-Jacques Garaud, Global Head of Roche Pharma Development.

"The center will reduce the waiting time and make the new medicines available for Chinese patients as soon as possible." He said the center is expected to have some thousands of Chinese patients undergoing clinical tests and ensuring that the drugs being developed are those most appropriate for Chinese patients.

Local drug authorities said the center will help pharmaceutical development in China and provide a platform for communication between Chinese and international pharmacological experts.

Medical drug development is not easy.

From 100,000 new drug designs only ten will make it to clinical trials.(Source: Shanghai Daily)

WHO chief praises China's efforts to improve public health services

2007-11-28T02:56:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

1 (Xinhua) -- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr.

Margaret Chan praised Chinese government's efforts to improve public medical and health care services here on Thursday.

She said she had noticed that the six tasks on improving people's well-being in the report by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China included the basic medical insurance systems for urban workers and dwellers and a new type of cooperative medical care system in rural areas.

"The public health service should put the stress on social equality and fairness," she said at a forum on China's rural health care services, organized jointly by the WHO and the Chinese Ministry of Health.

She appreciated the Chinese government's efforts and plans to build medical systems for all people, saying "when fair and accessible public health services become the clear targets of a country's public health policy, people's health will be improved".

Chen Zhu, Chinese Health Minister, said the Chinese government stressed harmonious development and valued the fairness of public health services.

He said the Chinese government will continue to improve health services in rural areas aiming to enable rural residents to enjoy the benefits of China's reform and development.

"The Chinese government will commit to build a fair public heath system in line with social and economic development," he said.

He said "China has made remarkable achievements in the improvement of public health care services", but also admitted "there are still many challenges for the health care services in rural areas such as inadequate medical resources".

China started the medical service reform in the early 1990s to abolish the system in which governments and state-run enterprises covered most medical expenses of urban Chinese.

However, rural people found it rather hard to get access to medical care.

Now medical insurance has been introduced and promoted in urban areas, and cooperative medical care has been experimented in the countryside.

In this sense, all Chinese people will be able to enjoy an affordable medical service.

The cooperative medical care system in rural areas, initiated in 2003 to offer farmers basic health care, covered 720 million rural residents, or 82.8 percent of the country's rural population, by the end of June this year.

China to provide basic medical care for all rural residents by 2010

2007-11-28T02:45:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

2 (Xinhua) -- China has promised that its basic medical and health care system will cover all rural residents by 2010.

The Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Chinese government, made the promise on Friday at a two-day forum on China's rural health care services, organized jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the China's Ministry of Health.

The government's investment will account for the main part of the fund for the system and the government will also encourage other public bodies and individuals to raise funds for the system.

The ministry said the government will increase investment in rural and remote areas.

A three-level medical and health care system including the county, township and village will be built all over the country, the ministry said.

The government will ensure there is one public hospital for each township and one clinic for each village.

It promised to upgrade the medical care infrastructure in rural areas and continue to upgrade them in accordance with economic development so as to offer better services for rural people.

The government will also train medical staff to work in rural areas and build a long-term mechanism with urban areas supporting rural areas.

Currently, the cooperative medical care system is the main system in rural areas.

Under this system, subscribers are funded at a level of 50 yuan per person -- 20 yuan from the central government, 20 yuan from the local government and 10 yuan from the individual.

This year, the central government allocates 10.1 billion yuan (1.346 billion U.S.

dollars) for the system, 5.8 billion yuan more than last year.

By the end of last June, the cooperative medical care system in rural areas, initiated in 2003 to offer farmers basic health care, covered 720 million rural residents, or 82.8 percent of the country's rural population, ministry statistics show.

Poor kids get more health aid

2007-11-28T02:35:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

5 -- Focus on the Family, a non-profit U.S.

organization dedicated to strengthening family ties, has donated 30,000 to U.S.

dollars help children with cleft lips and cleft palates in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

"It's great support to our program," Zhao Pengqi, vice president and general secretary of China Association of Social Workers, told China Daily.

"The donation could help about 50 children get the average surgery cost of up to 6,000 yuan (790 dollars) each." The program was designed to provide medical treatments to 2,008 congenitally disabled children whose families are too poor to afford the medical expenses.

However, the association, commissioned by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, has decided to make it a long-term program after it discovered that at least 600,000 Chinese children fell into this group.

The program so far has received about 30 million yuan (3.8 million dollars) from individuals, corporations and organizations, Zhao said.(Source: China Daily)

Influenza vaccination program starts in HK

2007-11-28T02:25:00.001-08:00

HONG KONG, Nov.

5 (Xinhua) -- A vaccination program proposed by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government started here on Monday.

The program, named Government Influenza Vaccination Program ( GIVP) for 2007-08, will cover about 300,000 people in needy or high-risk categories.

More than 60,000 elderly people living in more than 770 residential care homes will receive free influenza vaccinations from Monday to Nov.

30, followed by mop-up vaccinations until early 2008.

Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health York Chow visited an elderly home in Shau Kei Wan Monday morning to see the implementation of the Influenza Vaccination Program in elderly homes.

"The program helps protect them from complications of influenza infection by immunization before the peak influenza season," he said.

The HKSAR government has been providing free vaccinations to all elderly living in residential care homes in Hong Kong since 1998.

The program has been well received, with a coverage rate of 93 percent in 2006.

30 million Chinese travel abroad this year

2007-11-28T02:14:00.001-08:00

KUNMING, Oct.

30 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 30 million Chinese travelled abroad in the first nine months of the year, up 17 percent as against the same period of last year, a tourist official said here Tuesday.

The figure indicates that China remains Asia's largest source of outbound tourists, according to Zhu Shanzhong, a tourism promotion official with the China National Tourism Administration.

Addressing a press conference held on the sidelines of an ongoing tourist trade fair in this capital city of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Zhu said the growth rate of outbound Chinese tourists has outpaced the average world level.

He said among all the outbound tourists during the period, 25.52 million traveled for personal purposes and 4.44 million for business, accounting for 85 percent and 15 percent respectively of the total.

The number of outbound travellers from the Chinese mainland was 34.52 million last year, with Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Thailand, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia, the United States, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia their top destinations.

China has so far approved 132 countries and regions as destinations for outbound tourists.

The country hosted more than 22.21 million travellers from other countries in 2006, up 9.65 percent year-on-year, according to official figures.

The top 10 source countries of inbound travelers to the mainland were the ROK, Japan, Russia, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Mongolia, Thailand, Britain and Australia.

Popular Cantonese dish of snake and cat banned

2007-11-28T02:04:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

6 -- The popular Cantonese dish longhudou or "dragon duels with tiger" has been banned from dinner tables, local officials have said.

The delicacy derives its name from the snake and cat meat that, when mixed with herbs, has long been hailed as a nourishing dish in the southern metropolis.

Guo Qinghe, director of the Guangzhou bureau of forestry, reiterated over the weekend the citywide ban on the sale of snakes or foods containing the reptile.

"It is illegal for companies, restaurants and individuals to sell live snakes, snake meat and related foods," Guo said on a local TV program.

Apart from having their snakes and snake products confiscated, those caught flouting the ban will be fined between 10,000 yuan (1,300 U.S.

dollars) and 100,000 yuan, Guo added.

The Guangzhou city government banned the sale of snake and snake-related dishes in the wake of SARS in 2003, following revelations that the coronavirus might have come from snakes, civet cats and other wild animals used in Cantonese dishes.

Many restaurants subsequently resumed serving the meat when the health threat receded.

Demand for the dish peaks between September and December when snakes take on more flesh for the cold.

Many fans of the dish believe it alleviates or even cures asthma and rheumatism.

Chen Wenchong, the manager of a Cantonese restaurant in Guangzhou's Liwan district, said the snake ban had not seriously affected his business, which was well known for the dish.

The restaurant has adapted to serving mainly chicken, duck, goose and seafood, he said.

Zhou Guangjun, a Guangzhou resident, lamented the loss of the dish.

"I have stopped eating snakes but Guangzhou still has a large number of delicious dishes," Zhou told China Daily yesterday.

(Source: China Daily)

China blacklists 16 drugs, medical equipments posting illegal ads

2007-11-28T01:54:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

7 (Xinhua) -- China's pharmaceutical watchdog has warned 16 companies that they risk losing their advertising licenses after they published "illegal" ads that exaggerated the benefits of their products.

The 16 ads for drugs and medical equipment were identified by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on its website Wednesday.

The listed ads contain "a large amount of unscientific assertion and pledges on the products' benefits and effects", which seriously misled customers and violated advertising laws, a SFDA circular said.

The ten ads for drugs and six for medical equipment involved firms in Liaoning, Yunnan, Shanxi, Jilin, Hubei, Shandong, Tibet, Sichuan, Beijing, Heilongjiang, Hebei, and Henan.

In one commercial, Naoxintong, a drug produced by the Tonghua Shenlong Pharmaceutical Co.

Ltd for apoplexy and cardialgia, was depicted as a cure-all for heart disease.

"One box of the medicine will produce an instant effect on a patient who has suffered heart disease for seven or eight years, and the medicine is effective on 98.9 percent of patients," the circular cited the ad as saying.

The SFDA urged local food and drug administrations strengthen supervision of the listed drugs and to monitor the companies to ensure they complied with the law.

And serious offenders will be stripped of their advertisement licenses, the circular said.

Food and drug administrations have blacklisted 26,644 illegal drug ads and 1,349 medical equipment ads since March this year.

Eleven serious offenders were stripped of their advertisement licenses for one year, according to the circular.

Beijing blood service seeks Rh- donors for Olympics

2007-11-28T01:43:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

7 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Red Cross Blood Center (BRCBC) appealed to the public Wednesday to donate Rh- blood to fill blood stocks for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Beijing plans to store 800 of the 200-ml units of Rh- blood for the Olympics, but so far the center in charge of collection has just 400 units, a BRCBC source said.

People of Rh- blood group are rare in China as they only account for 0.3 percent of the total population of the dominating Han ethnic group, the source said.

The Rh- blood group accounts for about 15 percent of Caucasians.

Among China's ethnic groups, it makes up five percent of the Uygur ethnic group and one percent of the Mongolian ethnic group.

The BRCBC has already run through the full list of the city's blood donors seeking donations, the source said.

"All healthy Chinese citizens, no matter what type of blood they have, should contribute to the Olympic Games," said Yang Lan, a well-know TV anchorwoman and image ambassador for blood donation.

Last year, 435,000 Beijing residents donated blood and the city's blood stocks have depended entirely on local residents since 2005.

China performing well in combating AIDS, TB, malaria

2007-11-28T01:33:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

8 (Xinhua) -- China has made remarkable achievements in combating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, said a French doctor specializing in infectious diseases.

Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said it had so far donated 424 million U.S.

dollars to support China's fight against the three diseases.

China is the fund's second largest beneficiary and one of the best performers in its global campaign, said the Harvard-educated doctor.

At present, China operates 10 programs in 30 provinces under the support of the Global Fund.

Kazatchkine said the two parties had carried out effective cooperation in combating AIDS through educating young people and in providing prevention methods for drug addicts and commercial sex workers.

As a populous developing country, China faces challenges posed by the three diseases along with the rest of the world, Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu said.

He added the government attached much importance and made great investment to the prevention of the three diseases.

China has over the past five years invested 10 million U.S.

dollars into the Global Fund.

Huang said a five-year cooperation program is to be carried out between China and the Global Fund to help non-governmental organizations improve their organizational capacity.

The Global Fund, founded in 2002, has so far collected 20 billion U.S.

dollars, two-thirds of the international body's money, to combat the three diseases.

China sets strict rules on rabies-related dog killing

2007-11-28T01:23:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

12 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman for China's Ministry of Health (MOH) said here on Monday that government authorities would be prudent in issuing orders to kill dogs in a rabies epidemic.

"When medical experts judge that an epidemic has become very severe and constitutes a threat to many people, killing dogs is an important measure to safeguard health and contain the epidemic," said spokesman Mao Qun'an.

"But this measure should be adopted in a prudent way," he said at a regular press conference, noting the killing mainly targeted sick dogs and stray dogs.

He said raising pets in line with the law is a citizen's right, but dog owners should take steps to prevent rabies to protect their own health and that of their neighbors.

Mao was commenting on media reports that some local governments had slaughtered dogs after rabies cases were found.

MOH statistics show that from January to October, 2,717 rabies cases were reported on the Chinese mainland, up 2.41 percent in the same period a year earlier.

Areas severely affected by rabies included Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan and Guangdong provinces, Mao said.

"Most rabies cases were found in rural areas," he said, identifying that the Bijie area in northwest Guizhou province, Guigang in southeast Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Nanchong in northeast Sichuan province were the top three prefectural-level cities affected by the disease.

Mao said the occurrence of rabies was rising in China, particularly since 2000.

Between 2004 to 2006, rabies had claimed 8,403 lives in the country, accounting for 30.1 percent of the total deaths from infectious diseases in the same time period.

He said rabies was found in 910 counties in 23 provinces in 2007compared to 98 counties in 1996.

With more dogs being raised in China, many have not been vaccinated leading to the rabies increase.

Some people had also refused to be vaccinated after they were bitten by dogs leading to a natural increase in rabies occurrences.

Such problems were particularly serious in rural areas.

Mao said the MOH would pay more attention to the prevention and control of rabies in rural areas in the coming years and ensure rabies vaccines were fully supplied in such areas.

Rabies is an acute viral infection that is nearly always fatal if left untreated.

It can be transmitted by the bite of an infected animal, usually a dog.

It kills about 50,000 people around the world annually.

American-born panda to return to China next week

2007-11-28T01:12:00.001-08:00

CHENGDU, Nov.

2 (Xinhua) -- A male panda born in the United States four years ago will come back to his hometown in southwest China next week, according to a panda-breeding official.

Mei Sheng is due to leave San Diego Zoo On Monday, stay in Shanghai overnight and arrive at Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, the following day, said Li Desheng, an official with China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, based in Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province.

The panda had been scheduled to leave the United States at the end of last month, but the departure was postponed due to a flight adjustment, according to Li.

Experts from both the San Diego Zoo and the Chinese research center will escort the panda on his homebound journey.

He will be quarantined in a newly-built house for one month before he starts to look for a mate and start family life, said Li.

Mei Sheng, which means "born in America" or "beautiful life" in Chinese, was born on Aug.

19, 2003 at the San Diego Zoo in Southern California.

His parents were Bai Yun and Gao Gao, a couple lent to the zoo by China under a giant panda conservation and research program.

According to the cooperation agreement, cubs born overseas to pandas on loan belong to China and should be returned to China after they become sexually mature.

The first overseas-born panda Hua Mei, Mei Sheng's sister, came to China from the United States in 2004.

China sent 24 giant pandas to nine countries as gifts between 1957 and 1982 and five of their offspring are still alive.

The government stopped the program in 1985 and launched long-term cooperation on giant panda breeding with Japan, the United States and Spain in 1994, since when, 25 pandas have been leased to the countries.

Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world.

There are only 1,590 giant pandas living in the wild, most of them in southwest China's mountainous regions.

By the end of 2006, about 210 giant pandas lived in captivity in China.

Suspected food poisoning affects 157 over weekend

2007-11-28T01:02:00.001-08:00

NANJING, Nov.

12 (Xinhua) -- Suspected cases of food poisoning affected 157 people in two eastern Chinese provinces over the weekend.

In Jintan City in Jiangsu Province, 83 students were hospitalized after having lunch on Friday at the Hebin Primary School.

The city government announced on Monday that the pupils were taken for treatment after incidents of vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.

Ten students were still in hospital on Monday, none in serious condition.

Jintan has ordered an immediate overhaul of school mess halls to prevent such incidents from happening again.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.

In neighboring Anhui Province, 74 people were hospitalized in Hefei on Sunday after a birthday banquet.

As of Monday, 39 were still in hospital.

Samples of food from the lunch have been collected for testing.

A preliminary analysis revealed that the poisoning was caused by nitrite, most commonly used as the essential agent in preserving meat by pickling.

Walch pledges to help Chinese children with congenital heart disease

2007-11-28T00:52:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

13 (Xinhua) -- Hand wash manufacturer Walch has pledged to donate 1 million yuan (134,000 U.S.dollars) this year to help impoverished Chinese children with congenital heart disease.

The Children's Hope International (CHI) charity group and Walch Company, a branch of the Whealthfields Lohmann Daily Cosmetics (Guangzhou) Co.

Ltd jointly established a fund named Walch Heart Fund here on Nov.

In 2006, Walch promised to donate 10 million yuan in the following 10 years to CHI to help impoverished children with congenital heart disease.

"From 2006 to 2015, Walch plans to donate 1 million yuan every year to CHI to help needy children with congenital heart disease," Guo Tingting, an official with CHI, said here on Tuesday.

"This year, Walch's 1 million donation was used to establish the Walch Heart Fund," Guo said.

China's famous badminton player Cai Yun acted as a goodwill ambassador for the fund.

Cai was born with congenital heart disease.

"I used to suffer from congenital heart disease but I recovered so well that I have won several gold medals in international tournaments," he said while encouraging children with the disease at the funding ceremony.

About 220,000 children with congenital heart diseases are born in China annually, CHI statistics show.

Most of the children can be cured if their families have enough money and some of them can recover very well after treatment and enjoy their lives as healthy children, Guo said.

Impoverished families with children with the disease can apply to the fund through the CHI website (www.childrenshope.org.cn), she said.

Macao's Health Bureau confirms 14th dengue fever case

2007-11-28T00:41:00.000-08:00

MACAO, Nov.

13 (Xinhua) -- Macao's Health Bureau (HB) has recorded 14 dengue fever cases so far this year, according to an official statement issued Tuesday.

The statement from the HB said in the latest case, a 41-year- old resident was confirmed of dengue-fever infection on Nov.

6 at a local hospital.

The health authorities then sent medical team to his residence in the region's Taipa area to eradicate mosquitoes, said the statement.

Macao, a city with a population of 528,000, was hit by a major dengue fever out-break in 2001, when 1,418 people were infected.

National health scheme to be released next week

2007-11-28T00:31:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

14 -- A "national environment and health act" will be released next Wednesday by 18 ministries, a notice on the website of the Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday.

The act, which will remain in place until 2015, is aimed at alleviating the harm to public health caused by environmental pollution, the website said.

It has been backed by the MOH, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

China News Service, which published information about the act yesterday, said it will be carried out in two phases: In the first phase, ending in 2010, a national evaluation system will be set up to measure the harm caused by pollution, and surveys on the extent of environmental pollution and public health will be carried out.

In the second phase, monitoring networks will be set up to track changes in the amount of pollution released, and various government bodies will work together in responding to environmental crises.

The monitoring networks will cover water for drinking and irrigation, the deterioration of the soil, extreme weather, public hygiene and the safekeeping of biological and microbiological agents in laboratories and animal farms.

In cases of emergency, public warnings will be issued immediately and government bodies will assemble teams to minimize damages.

Information platforms will be set up to coordinate actions and share information across government agencies.

Information will also be publicized through the media as quickly as possible.

Surveys on the sources of pollution and about its impact on the public health will be carried out soon.

Research projects aimed at pinpointing the effects of climate change on the human body and the preventive power of traditional Chinese medicine are in the works.(Source: China Daily)

Over 20 mln Chinese suffer diabetes

2007-11-28T00:21:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

14 (Xinhua) -- More than 20 million people have diabetes in China while another 20 million suffer impaired glucose tolerance, a pre-diabetic state, the Ministry of Health said here on Wednesday.

Diabetes has become a serious health problem in China, said Qi Xiaoqiu, director of the ministry's disease control and prevention department, on the first United Nation World Diabetes Day.

"Many Chinese eat more and exercise less, which is the main reason why the number of diabetes patients, especially type 2 diabetes, is growing fast," Qi said.

He warned the public of the increasing cases of obesity that could lead to diabetes, especially in children.

According to the ministry's figures, 12 percent of children in big Chinese cities were overweight.

The latest sampling survey in Beijing of 17,311 children between eight and 18 revealed that 21.58 percent were overweight and 0.21 percent had type 2 diabetes.

The Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday that 0.54 percent of kids between six and 18 in the capital had diabetes.

Overweight people were also more easily resistant to insulin than people of normal weight, said Yang Wenying, director of the diabetes branch of the Chinese Medical Association.

"A kid has to go through lots of difficulties in daily life if caught by diabetes.

They may suffer serious complications such as renal failure and vision loss in the future if the situation gets worse." She suggested that kids should eat less fast food, snacks and soft drinks, watch less TV and play less computer games while going outdoor more.

"Mothers-to-be should also balance their diet as well to avoid giving birth to overweight infants," she added.

Doctors develop alternative to vasectomy

2007-11-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

15 -- Doctors in Guangzhou have developed a new birth control surgery for men that could be made available to the public starting next year.

The method involves making a small incision along the testicle.

Doctors then place a tiny tube, about the size of a match, into the opening.

The tube functions as a filter that blocks sperm, Wu Weixiong, the director of Guangzhou Family Planning Technology Center, said.

The surgery has already been patented, and the health department will promote it as soon as it is approved by the National Food and Drug Administration, Zhu Jiaming, the vice president of the Guangzhou Sexology Association, said.

He expects approval to be granted by next year.

"The success rate for this form of birth control is 97 percent," he said.

The tube can be removed without negatively affecting a man's sexual health, he said.

Wu said the operation takes just 10 minutes.

However, it is very difficult and requires highly skilled doctors.

He said only a few hospitals have the staff and facilities necessary to carry out the procedure.

However, training courses will soon be made available to local doctors.

Wu said he believed enough facilities and manpower would be available to handle the demand for such operations by the time the procedure is officially approved.

"The success rate of the operation is almost 100 percent," Duan Jianhua, an official of Guangzhou population and family planning commission, said.

Research on the operation started four years ago in Beijing.

It was led by the science and technology institute of the National Population and Family Planning Commission and Guangzhou family planning science and technology institute.

Wu said the technique was developed through more than 1,600 clinical trials all over the country.

More than 500 men in Qingyuan, a city in Guangdong Province, have already had the operation.

All the trials were successful and none of the subjects has experienced any side effects.

Zhu Jiaming said the operation costs just a few thousand yuan, which is affordable for most people in China.

"When the technique is available, couples will have one more option for birth control, and married women do not have to install an intrauterine device (IUD) anymore," Zhu said.

The public seems ready.

"I welcome this technique.

It makes me feel women are more respected by society than before," Liu Jun, a woman in Guangzhou, said.

A survey by the Guangzhou-based New Express Daily found that about 60 percent of Guangzhou residents welcomed the surgery and supported its promotion.

(Source: China Daily)

Heritage conservation grips Jordan's Petra amid booming tourism

2007-11-28T00:00:00.001-08:00

AMMAN, Nov.

3 (Xinhua) -- Visitors who now go to the ancient rose-red city of Petra in southern Jordan have to brave freezing morning and night temperatures and baking desert sunshine.

It, however, would not hold back the footsteps of the tourists who want to see for themselves the city carved into soft sandstone and surrounded by towering hills which gave the city some natural protection against invaders.

French oil giant Total to help Beijing build first-aid training center

2007-11-27T23:50:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

16 (Xinhua) -- French oil and gas company Total, along with the French embassy to China, will help Beijing health authorities build a first-aid training center to further enhance Sino-French cooperation in medical areas.

The three-year program is expected to start at the beginning of 2008.

Medical experts from both China and France will be invited to train all first-aid workers in the Chinese capital, according to a letter of intent signed here Friday by the French embassy, Total and the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

The partners will also consider offering courses on emergency and disaster medicine with the help of hospitals affiliated to some well-known French universities, and in issuing diploma or degrees to qualified students in the China-France training center.

No details about investment were revealed at the ceremony.

Jacques de Boisseson, general representative of Total in China, said the company was committed to helping Beijing improve its first-aid system for the Olympics.

Since 2004, Total has input more than 1.5 million euros (2.1 U.S.

million dollars) to fund 30 Chinese first-aid doctors to advance their studies in France.

It has also sponsored two China-France forums on emergency and disaster medicine.

"France has been concerned about China's public health work and has carried out cooperation in this regard over recent years," French Ambassador Herve Ladsous said.

"France will continue to help promote China's public health work, just as it did before." China's Minister of Health Chen Zhu praised the Sino-French medical cooperation as a symbol of the friendly ties between the two countries.

"I hope medical workers in both China and France will make greater contributions to consolidating the friendship," he said.

Chronic lung disease fatal for 1.28 mln Chinese per year

2007-11-27T23:40:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

17 (Xinhua) -- About 1.28 million people in China die from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) annually, experts at an international symposium in Beijing reported this weekend.

There were 38.16 million patients in China's mainland and 870,000 in Hong Kong and Taiwan affected with medium or severe COPD.

However, public awareness of the disease was quite low.

Even doctors could misdiagnose, and fail to spot the disease at an early stage, according to an international research project on antibiotics, which held a global symposium on bronchitis in Asia Pacific in the Chinese capital this week.

Cough, expectoration and panting were listed as major symptoms of COPD, a general term covering chronic bronchitis, emphysema and some other chronic lung diseases.

The antibiotic Moxifloxac can help cut the number of days COPD patients suffer from the symptoms by 20 percent and reduce the nights of sleep disorder by 18 percent, according to results of a survey conducted by the transnational project.

It studied more than 47,000 patients including 28,000 from Asia Pacific, about half of which were from the Chinese mainland.

The survey, which started in 2004, also found the average age for Asia-Pacific patients was 57, slightly younger than that of Europe and Latin America.

Experts said reducing acute outbreak and swiftly controlling infection were key measures to dealing with COPD.

Health Ministry blacklists 10 substandard cosmetics

2007-11-27T23:29:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

18 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Health has issued a notice blacklisting ten domestically made cosmetics which contain dexamethasone and chloramphenicol.

The ten substandard cosmetics include nine types of lotions, gems, anti-allergy essence and masks, produced by the Guangzhou Shimei Cosmetics Co., Ltd.

and an anti-allergy moisture mask produced by Gelamei cosmetic Co., Ltd.

The two cosmetics companies are both based in south China's Guangdong Province.

The notice said cosmetics containing dexamethasone, or "skin opium", will make skin seem improved at primary stage.

However, if customers use such cosmetics in a long term, their skin will become atrophic, thin and dark and they may suffer other skin diseases.

After customers suspend to apply such cosmetics, their skin usually becomes dry, grows rashes and are susceptible to sunshine and high temperature, said the notice.

Security tightened at veterinary labs

2007-11-27T23:19:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

19 -- Beijing has tightened security at veterinary laboratories under an anti-terror program intended to ensure bio-safety during the 2008 Olympic Games.

The city's 27 veterinary laboratories signed guarantees with the Beijing Agriculture Bureau on Saturday promising not to allow any leaks of disease-causing microorganisms during the Games, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Sunday.

The bureau has urged every lab to establish its own bio-safety management committee by this Sunday.

Monthly safety inspections of veterinary labs will begin this month to expose any loopholes in safety management.

Li Quanlu, director of the Beijing Animal Health Supervision Institute, said the campaign is also aimed at increasing public awareness of biological terrorism to fight against biological weapons and the leakage of harmful bacteria, fungi, viruses and toxins.

The city will improve supervision of the deadly microorganisms that cause animal diseases and crack down on the unauthorized preservation, use and transport of such microorganisms, Li said.

By the end of this month, the authorities will post standardized signs at veterinary labs to raise public awareness of bio-safety and bio-disaster prevention.

"Citizens are encouraged to report bio-safety violations to the authorities," Li said.

The authorities passed a regulation in late 2004 to tighten management of biological laboratories in response to an incident earlier that year in which two people were infected with the SARS virus at a lab operated by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The regulation graded the country's pathogenic microbe labs into four levels.

The first and second grades are for labs forbidden to conduct experiments on risky pathogenic microbes, which can cause severe and contagious diseases in humans and animals.

The third and fourth grade labs are allowed to conduct experiments on such diseases after securing a special certificate from the health and veterinary administrations.

A national standard on laboratory bio-safety was established in 2004 by the Standardization Administration of China and the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China to specify the general requirements of laboratory bio-safety.

(Source: China Daily)

China vows to strengthen rat plague prevention

2007-11-27T23:09:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

20 (Xinhua) -- China will intensify preventive measures against rat plague, which can be contracted and spread by human beings, the health minister said.

Chen Zhu, the Minister of Health, said the plague should be treated as

Fudan University sets up health database

2007-11-27T22:58:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

21 -- Scientists with Fudan University are teaming up with a pharmaceutical company in neighboring Jiangsu Province to establish a residents' health database, which is expected to ease prevention and treatment of common diseases.

Conducted by the Taizhou Fudan Health Sciences Research Institute, the database program will track health conditions of about 30,000 residents in Taizhou, Jiangsu, for at least the next two decades.

Researchers will record common diseases such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, cancer and mental illness, and try to analyze the relationship between the diseases and people's daily lifestyle.

Genetic analysis and family health history will also be taken in the hope of unveiling how diseases develop, Fudan professors said.

"The biggest goal of the unprecedented project is to set up a national-level and open disease information database that could be shared and used by all domestic research institutes and hospitals," said Lu Daru, professor with Fudan's School of Life Sciences.

Setting up a national health database containing systematic information on diseases is a common practice in many Western countries.

By studying the cause and spread of diseases, doctors can work out how to prevent or treat conditions more effectively.

In China, however, only individual research groups compile databases on specific diseases.

Lu explained that fast-paced modern life had changed people's lives, which meant there was an urgent need for a health database.(Source: Shanghai Daily)

Tourist arrival shoots up in birthplace of Lord Buddha in Nepal

2007-11-27T22:48:00.001-08:00

KATHMANDU, Nov.

4 (Xinhua) -- The number of tourists coming to visit Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha in Kapilvastu district in southern Nepal, has been rising steadily over the last five years.

According to Sunday's The Himalayan Times report, the rise in tourist arrival is mainly attributed to the restoration of peace in the country after the end of the decade-long conflict in the country, the Lumbini Development Fund (LDF) said.

According to statistics, 7,854 passport-holding foreign tourists visited Lumbini, some 300 km southwest of Kathmandu, in 2002.

In 2003, 2004 and 2005, some 28,053, 37,977 and 39,789 tourists visited Lumbini, one of the world heritage sites in the country, respectively.

In 2006, after the end to conflict and restoration of peace, some 49,595 passport-holding foreign tourists came to Lumbini while 51,437 have visited it till October-end in 2007, said information officer at the LDF Keshav Chaudhari.

He added that the number of such tourists is expected to cross the 75,000 mark by the end of December.

The number of domestic and Indian tourists has also shot up significantly and the construction of an international airport at Bhairahawa nearby Lumbini will further boost tourism prospects in the famous place, said Chaudhari.

The largest number of tourist visiting Lumbini is from Sri Lanka followed by Thailand, Myanmar, China, Australia, Japan, Poland, the United States, Britain and Germany, according to the statistics.

Finland planning job-seeker's visa for foreigners

2007-11-27T22:38:00.001-08:00

HELSINKI, Nov.

23 (Xinhua) -- Finland is planning to institute a 6-month working visa for foreign job-seekers, Finnish daily "Helsingin Sanomat" reported Friday.

If a job is found, the holder could start work immediately, and would not have to return to the country of origin to apply for a residence permit.

Under current legislation, Finland grants visas to foreigners from outside the European Union only for three months.

With certain exceptions, a separate residence permit is required, which has to be applied for in the applicant's own country before arriving in Finland.

The proposed job-seeker's visa is put forward as a part of a major reform in the residence permit system in Finland.

The job-seeker's visa program will start on a trial basis, involving citizens of a handful of countries.

After the trial period, the program will be expanded to other countries.

The aim of the job application visa and other changes in residence permit procedure is to mitigate the effects of the aging of the population in Finland, and the looming labor shortage as more Finns of working age reach retirement age.

China to monitor environmental impact on human health

2007-11-27T22:27:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

21 (Xinhua) -- China will closely monitor environmental effects on human health to ameliorate the harm caused by air or water pollution, under the first-ever action plan of its kind launched on Wednesday.

"The National Action Plan on Environment and Health (2007-2015)is intended to control the influence of environmental factors on the human body and reduce environment-related diseases to safeguard the health of the public," said Vice-Minister of Health Chen Xiaohong.

He spoke on behalf of 18 government departments that jointly launched the plan at the third national forum on environment and health.

Under the plan, China will improve laws, regulations and standards on health and the environment.

It will also set up a comprehensive network to monitor drinking water safety, air pollution, soil conditions, extreme weather and public hygiene.

Further, it will act in a "timely and efficiently" manner to analyze and predict the impact on human health caused by environmental problems.

Traditional Chinese medicine will also be applied to research in the field, it said.

Environmental degradation in China has become a major factor affecting human health, especially in some rural areas where the quality of the drinking water is not up to hygiene standards, thus giving rise to diseases such as schistosomiasis.

Also, a large percentage of birth defects in China are believed to be associated with environmental problems, although there are no definitive figures on the exact percentage of defects due to this cause.

Statistics show that nearly 1 million babies are born with defects in China each year, of whom just 30 percent can be cured or treated.

Harelips, one of the major birth defects in China, which are often associated with cleft palates, are a common congenital malformation caused by hereditary and environmental factors.

China has 2.4 million children with cleft palates and about 25,000 babies are born with the ailment each year, government statistics show.

HIV spreading to younger people

2007-11-27T22:17:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

22 -- HIV is spreading to younger people and those with advanced educational backgrounds, figures released by the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center showed yesterday.

The center has so far received 77 HIV patients this year, and about 70 percent of them have good educational backgrounds.

Most of them are between the ages of 20 and 40.

Fourteen of the patients were born after 1980.

"The new HIV carriers this year are much younger and have better educational backgrounds than in the past," Sun Hongqing, a doctor at the center, said.

It has been reported that the most common way to spread HIV in this city is through sexual intercourse.

Sexually transmitted diseases of all types are becoming increasingly common in Shanghai.

In March alone, the city reported 935 cases of syphilis, accounting for more than a quarter of the new cases of serious infectious diseases in the city.

Sun attributed the spread of HIV to a lack of knowledge about sex and sexually transmitted diseases.

"They just don't know much about sexual health, such as how to use a condom, and then many of them forget all the basics.

Some of them are just happy to take the risk," Sun said.

Shanghai reported its first HIV infection in 1987.

By the end of last year, 2,313 infections had been reported.

One hundred people have died of the disease.

The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center receives funding from the Shanghai municipal government.

The center was designed as an integrated facility encompassing clinical therapeutics, teaching and research.

The center aims to improve the city's public health system and clinical treatment of infectious disease and to create a platform for cooperation on public health and research, in order to upgrade Shanghai's research capabilities.

"We are planning to introduce more psychological interventions for HIV patients during our therapy sessions," Chen Liang, a professor at the center, said.

"We need to help them accept the reality of their illness and rebuild their self confidence to go back to society." Next Saturday is the 20th annual World AIDS Day.(Source: China Daily)

Study: depression a major cause of homicide in China

2007-11-27T22:07:00.001-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

22 (Xinhua) -- In China, about 16.8 percent to 23 percent of homicides are committed by people with depression with many of them being avoidable if good psychiatric care was available, according to a newly released research report.

More than 6,000 homicide cases committed by depressed people were reported during the year 2002 to 2006, said the report made public at the 10th national judicial psychiatric academic symposium held in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province.

"People suffering from depression often think their lives are hard," said Zhao Zhenhuan, the head of a cerebral surgery hospital in Guangzhou.

"If they choose to die, they want to die with their most loved ones to end their painful life." Zhao added.

He said that patients suffering from depression would not go to that extreme if they received timely and proper treatment.

Men and women acted differently in choosing their victims, the Beijing Evening News reported the research report as saying.

In all the 6,000-strong cases, 94.4 percent of the female criminals killed their children while 63.2 percent of the male criminals killed their wives or lovers, and altogether half of the murderers committed suicide after killing, according to the report.

Statistics from the China Association for Mental Health show, China has more than 26 million people suffering from depression, with 62.9 percent of them never seeing a psychological doctor.

A total of 50 percent to 70 percent of suicides or attempted suicide cases were committed by these people.

About 250,000 Chinese take their own lives each year, making suicide one of the major causes of death for Chinese people, according to Michael R.

Philips, China representative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and a consultant with the Mental Health Department of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The research found out that white collar people are not the sole group who tend to suffer from depression.

People in rural areas, especially those married, young or middle-aged people who did not have the opportunity to receive college education, also tend to fall to suffer from the mental disorder.

A spate of tragedies caused by mentally ill people have aroused concern in China.

Huang Wenyi, a mentally ill man in south China's Guangdong Province, murdered five family members and an employee with a hammer in late December last year.

Huang was given a death sentence with a two-year stay on July 11 this year.

In another case, Wang Ye, 32, who claimed a mental illness history, hammered her husband to death at night in October 2006 because his husband made satirical comments on her skin before they went to bed.

Wang was tried in an intermediate court in Beijing earlier this week.

No sentence has been given so far.

The report highlighted that between 16.8 and 23 percent of homicides are committed by people with depression, the range of figures representing different homicide figures for different provinces.

Medical workers suffering from stress

2007-11-27T21:57:00.001-08:00

By Liang Qiwen and Qiu Quanlin

China to build sanitary toilets for fishermen to tackle water-borne disease

2007-11-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

BEIJING, Nov.

24 (Xinhua) -- China will build sanitary toilets to reduce the incidence among the fishing population of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic worm disease.

The toilets will mainly be built in five provinces: Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan.

These are places with a high incidence of the disease, according to a circular jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health.

The central government will provide up to 6,000 yuan (800 U.S.

dollars) per toilet, and any additional cost must be covered by local governments, said the circular.

The siting and construction will be carried out according to the local incidence of the disease, reasonable distribution and convenience of users.

Schistosomiasis, a wasting disease that causes blood loss and tissue damage, afflicted many Chinese before the 1960s owing to widespread poor waste treatment in rural latrines, fishing boats and water.

Located south of the Yangtze River and home to China's largest freshwater lake -- Poyang Lake -- Jiangxi is one of the worst-affected areas for schistosomiasis, commonly known as snail fever.

About 100,000 people live with the disease in Jiangxi.

HK launches campaign to promote traditional Chinese medicine

2007-11-27T21:36:00.001-08:00

HONG KONG, Nov.

24 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong health authorities launched a month-long educational and publicity program here Saturday to enhance public understanding of traditional Chinese medicine.

Officiating at the launching ceremony of the "Promotion of Traditional Chinese Medicine Program", Secretary for Food and Health Dr.

York Chow said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government is committed to the development of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong.

The campaign will last for more than one month from Nov.

24 to Dec.

31 during which more than 50 activities will be held to rejuvenate the industry that has prospered in China for centuries.

Highlights of the campaign include a symposium on global development in Chinese medicine, China's mainland-Hong Kong heart-to-heart carnival on Chinese medicines, visits to elderly homes, free consultations by Chinese medicine practitioners as well as seminars.

All the activities are non-profit-making and will be provided free to the public or the Chinese medicine sector, according to the Food and Health Department.

Vice-Minister of Health and Director-General of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dr.

Wang Guoqiang said the "Promotion of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China" is a nation-wide campaign that will last for three years.

The program in Hong Kong will enable the local community to gain a better understanding of Chinese medicine and will be beneficial to its development, he added.