Government highlights Shanghai's health education reforms

Shanghai has introduced a reform in the appraisal of medics' senior academic titles in order to encourage more medical professionals to participate in health education, local health officials told a news conference of the National Health Commission on Friday.

Health officials and experts from Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing participated in the conference in Shanghai to introduce their performance and experience in health promotion under a national plan to turn hospitals' focus from treating disease to health care that will better protect public health and build a healthy China.

Wen Daxiang, director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said the city's some 200,000 medical staff are the major force of the city's health education and promotion.

"We have launched many incentive measures to encourage medical facilities and professionals' involvement in health promotion, such as through cooperation with human resources bureaus to include medical staff's work in health education into the evaluation system while applying for senior academic title. Previously, the system mainly considered their published papers," Wen said.

"Moreover, the government has boosted a range of projects on health education, given more sponsorships, and carried out more health education events.

"The government also teams up with medical facilities to launch new media-based health education platforms to provide residents with convenient and updated health education. Through efforts in the past decade, Shanghai residents' health awareness has increased rapidly. Nearly 40 percent of residents have received quality scores in health knowledge and understanding tests," he added.

Western medicine staff are actively involved in health education but traditional Chinese medicine experts are as concerned with health promotion.

Dr Zhang Zhongde, president of the Guangdong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, said his hospital uses new technology and new measures to promote public awareness on TCM-based health care and enhance TCM clinical effects.

"We have widely adopted smart technology in hospital administration, health service and patient management. Patients can enjoy a combined online and offline service for a greater efficiency and a better experience. We introduce TCM-based educational programs on our public WeChat account to promote health care and disease prevention and control, and simple and interesting diet tips and daily dish recipes, which have received a huge welcome from the public," he said.