Preface

Nutrition and chronic diseases (chronic non-communicable diseases, hereinafter referred to as NCD) of urban and rural residents are not only important indicators of economic and social development, healthcare and population health quality of a nation or region, but also basic information essential for formulating national strategies for public health and disease prevention and control. In recent years, with the continuous improvement of economic and social development and healthcare services, residents’ life expectancy increases year by year,while health and nutritional status enjoys continuous improvement, and great achievements have been made in disease prevention and control as well. In the meantime, with the increasingly aging population, accelerated urbanization and industrialization, together with unhealthy lifestyle and other risk factors affecting people’s health, residents’ nutrition and chronic diseases have experienced new changes. In order to present the changes in nutrition and chronic disease conditions of Chinese residents over the decade, National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NHFPC), jointly with Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases (NCCD)and National Cancer Center (NCC), set up a core expert group to compile the Report on Chinese Residents’ Chronic Diseases and Nutrition 2015. The report, accomplished within more than one year, was based on national representative surveillance and data from multiple monitoring centers and sources, while applying system evaluation, complex weighing and meta-analysis.

The report incorporates Chinese diet and nutrition status, physical development, as well as mortality, incidence, prevalence, risk factors and variation trend of major chronic diseases,with all key indicators confirmed by experts from domestic and international authorities. The core contents of the report have already been released at a press conference by the State Council on June 30, 2015. This report is another authoritative release for Chinese nutrition and chronic disease conditions on the basis of Report on Chinese Nutrition and Health Status 2005. The report results show that, over the past 10 years, Chinese diet, nutrition and physical development conditions have improved overall, while chronic disease prevalence kept up and mortality kept down. It is a reflection of national development in social, economic, medical and health conditions, as well as current popularity status of social decisive factors including quickened population aging and behavioral risk factors including smoking. Overall, China still faces severe challenges in the prevention and control of chronic diseases.

With the aim to safeguard health for all and realize long-term development, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth CPC Central Committee proposes the strategic target of “pushing ahead the Healthy China program”, which highlights that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to safeguarding the health of all Chinese people and are f rmly determined to do so. An important part of the Healthy China program is to promote the prevention and control of chronic diseases and the improvement of nutrition. While pushing ahead the Healthy China program, deepening the reform of the medical and health sectors,speeding up the development of health services and promoting the integration of medical and health service and elderly care service, we should make a positive contribution to the magnif cent target of building up a moderately prosperous society in all respects through reaching a consensus among all sectors and all social circles, sticking to the strategy of integrated prevention and control and making continuous progress in the prevention and control of chronic diseases and the improvement of nutrition in accordance with the concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.