2019年CRI Chinese average life expectancy increased by over 40 years over past decades

 

As the Chinese people look ahead to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, several of the country's health experts have been reflecting on the improvements in public health that have taken place over the past 7 decades.

Official data shows that China has made great progress in providing national medical services over the past 70 years.

Qin Geng is director of the department for women and children's health at the National Health Commission. He spoke¹ about the increase in life expectancy², and the falling infant mortality rate.

"Before the establishment of the People's Republic of China, rural and remote areas were short of doctors and medicine. The mortality rate for babies was as high as 20 percent, compared with 0.6 percent in 2018. The average life expectancy was 35 before 1949, but it increased to 77 years last year, which is higher than the average of some mid-to high-income countries. The maternal³ mortality rate has dropped to 18 per 100-thousand live births last year."

Qin also talked about China's achievement in preventing and controlling infectious diseases over the past decades.

"We attach great importance to children's health. We think disease prevention is more important than treatment. We provide health education, telling children how to stay healthy. A number of diseases can also be prevented by vaccines⁴. We provide every child with 14 vaccines against 15 diseases. For children under 5, the HBV carrier rate is within 1 percent. That's a great achievement."

Official data shows China had nearly 1 million public medical institutions at the end of last year, compared with about 3,600 in 1949. And the number of medical workers reached 9.5 million by 2018.

Professor Fu Hua is with Fudan University.

"One of our experiences from the reform and improvement of the medical care system is to strengthen community healthcare services. Our medical insurance system covers more than 95 percent of the population. It's also among the measures proposed by the World Health Organization for public health. China has done a great job in this field."

China has established a national immunization monitoring system, which covers the whole country.

The vaccination⁵ rate has been maintained at over 90 percent in recent years.

Professor Zhou Zijun is with the School of Public Health at Peking University.

"We have a planned immunization system, which can help prevent children from catching⁶ infectious diseases. In the past, these diseases could lead to a high mortality rate. Thanks to vaccines, both the morbidity⁷ rate and the mortality rate have decreased."

However, experts are calling on the public to pay more attention to the problem of chronic⁸ diseases, like obesity⁹ and cardiovascular disease, which are now considered the greatest threat to public health. Doctors say that the best way to avoid these conditions is to eat well, and to exercise.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

3 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 morbidity   

n.病态；不健全；发病；发病率

参考例句：

• MC's also significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality induced by honeybee venom. 肥大细胞同样也能显著降低蜜蜂毒液诱发疾病的发病率和死亡率。 来自互联网
• The result shows that incidence of myopia morbidity is 44.84%. 结果表明：近视眼的发病率为44.84%。 来自互联网

8 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

9 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。