Issues in mental health, communicable and non-communicable health that CHINA faces - Assignment Example

Running head: HEALTH ISSUES IN CHINA Issues in mental health, communicable and non-communicable health in China First Middle initialand Last name Name of University Course Title March 21, 2011 Health Issues China, the world’s most populous country with over 1.3 billion people and the world’s second largest economy is facing major health care issues. According to M. R. Phillips et al. (2009), nearly 17.5% of Chinese have some form of mental illness which is one of the highest rates in the world.

Culturally, in China, people tend to hide their feelings compared to westerners and mental illness is considered a shame. In addition to this, there are only 20,000 psychiatrists in China: 1.5 for each 100,000 people and many psychologists in the country are poorly qualified (Cyranoski, 2010). Another major health concern is the steep rise in communicable and non-communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and obesity due to unhealthy lifestyles like poor diet, and physical inactivity and high risk behaviors like smoking, drug/alcohol use and prostitution.

Proposed Solutions The Chinese government should make psychological examinations an integral part of the annual health check-ups available for Chinese people and refer patients (when needed) to appropriate health care professionals for treatment and counseling. Secondly, the Chinese medical program should include subjects like psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy since currently it is available only as an optional course to doctors (Moore, 2009). Thirdly, the Chinese government should provide increased funding to develop and conduct community based programs to educate people about various diseases and prevention strategies.

Fourthly, specific programs should be developed to create awareness of mental health issues and HIV/AIDS and encourage families to get the disease treated early. Finally, continued international collaborations are required to strengthen China’s healthcare infrastructure and community-based health programs. Reference Phillips, M.R., Zhang, J., Shi, Q., Song, Z., Ding, Z., Pang, S.,….Wang, Z. (2009). Prevalence, treatment, and associated disability of mental disorders in four provinces in China during 2001—05: an epidemiological survey.

The Lancet, 373(9680), 2041 – 2053. Cyranoski, D. (2010, November 10). China tackles surge in mental illness. Nature. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101110/full/468145a.html. Moore, M. (2009, April 28). China has 100 million people with mental illness. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5235487/China- has-100-million-people-with-mental-illness.html.