Residents increasingly aware about health

The percentage of local residents with proper awareness and knowledge of health rose to 35.57 last year, 5.1 times that of the first study in 2008, the Shanghai Health Commission said on Monday.

Health awareness has been rising year by year since then, it said.

Last year, a total of 30,076 residents between the ages of 15 and 69 answered a questionnaire covering attitudes to health, knowledge of safety and first aid, health information, chronic disease prevention and control, basic medical service, infectious disease prevention and control.

About 35.57 percent of residents had proper health awareness, 3.26 percentage points more than the previous year and the highest yet.

People’s awareness of infectious disease prevention and control, health information and basic medical services had the highest increase, with a greater understanding of proper infectious disease prevention related to the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Officials said the city will further enhance public health education and step up education targeting people between 55 and 69, as their awareness was relatively lower than people in other age groups.