New program to help women deal with chronic rheumatic disease

The Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation kicked off a campaign to promote education and offer help to women with chronic rheumatic disease in Shanghai and other cities in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The foundation will team up with pharmaceutical companies, medical experts, grassroots governments, hospitals and social organizations to push the introduction of favorable policies, enhance education on disease prevention and control and step up support and help.

There are about 2 million people with rheumatic disease in China and most are women – three to four times as many as men.

Women face more health and lifestyle issues generally, such as pregnancy, child-raising, work and financial challenges, imposing a serious burden on their physical and psychological health.

To help such women, the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation initiated the program to bring support and better patient management through social workers and organizations and by holding patient events.

Medical experts are also invited to shoot short educational videos to promote knowledge about rheumatic disease and conduct charity medical consultations and lectures.

The program is expected to help relieve the burden on the thousands of women with chronic rheumatic disease and improve their confidence and quality of life.