Be the first person responsible for one's own health

Citizens are the first responsible person for their own health. This is a clear provision of Article 69 of the Basic Medical and Health Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China

Citizens are the first responsible person for their own health. This is a clear provision of Article 69 of the Basic Medical and Health Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China. To inspire everyone's passion for loving, cherishing, and pursuing health, and to develop a healthy lifestyle that aligns with their own and family characteristics, it is necessary for the entire society to take action together. The theme of this year's National Healthy Lifestyle Promotion Month is "Starting from Me", aiming to guide the general public to start from themselves, practice a healthy lifestyle, and be the first responsible person for their own health.

Integrating into everyone's every day

On September 1, 2007, the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Ministry of Health, the Office of the National Patriotic Health Movement Committee, and the China Center for Disease Prevention and Control jointly launched the National Healthy Lifestyle Action with the theme of "Harmonious My Life, Healthy Chinese People". Afterwards, September 1st of each year was designated as "National Healthy Lifestyle Day". Starting from 2018, the "National Healthy Lifestyle Day" has expanded to the "National Healthy Lifestyle Promotion Month" throughout September. The change from "day" to "month" reflects the increasing importance that the country places on the healthy lifestyle of the entire population.

Guo Yanhong, Director of the Medical Emergency Department of the National Health Commission, introduced that the coverage rate of counties (districts) carrying out the National Healthy Lifestyle Action has exceeded 97%, and the goal of "reaching 95% coverage by 2025" proposed in the "National Healthy Lifestyle Action Plan (2017-2025)" has been achieved ahead of schedule. China has built nearly 100000 health supporting environments in 12 categories, including health communities, health units, health canteens, health restaurants, health huts, and health trails, and recruited and trained over 900000 healthy lifestyle instructors.

Zhao Wenhua, the chief expert in nutrition at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has been paying attention to the National Healthy Lifestyle Action for many years. The first phase of the National Healthy Lifestyle Action, which began in 2007, was mainly led by the health department. In the second phase, the State General Administration of Sport, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, and the All China Women's Federation were added. It can be seen that more departments are actively fulfilling their responsibilities in the construction of a healthy China. Zhao Wenhua said that he has also witnessed the changes in the lifestyle of the people around him: when ordering dishes, he would say to put less oil and salt; In the park, there are more healthy trails and more people walking and running; In the community, sports equipment is abundant, and there are more people riding bicycles and playing table tennis

While the external forms are blooming, the connotation of a healthy lifestyle for all is deepening. For example, previous oral treatment may have been dental treatment, but now it has further clarified the internal connection between the concept of healthy oral health and the "three reductions". Oral treatment is more holistic and has richer practical content.

Guo Yanhong stated that in the future, more exploration will be made on the forms, connotations, and intervention technologies of healthy lifestyles based on the health needs and changes in the living environment of Chinese residents. Meanwhile, based on previously mature health concepts and technical tools, the focus of the action in the coming years will be to promote public behavior change and implement the concept of "being the first person responsible for one's own health".

The cultivation of a healthy lifestyle cannot stop at 'day to month'. It's not about doing it today and not doing it tomorrow. It's about integrating into every day of everyone's life and becoming an indispensable part of life. This also requires all parties in society to continue to work together to promote, policy support, and a good atmosphere, "Zhao Wenhua said.

Targeted strategy changes

Among the factors affecting health released by the World Health Organization globally, personal lifestyle accounts for 60%, genetics accounts for 15%, environmental factors account for 17%, and medical service factors only account for 8%. Among them, lifestyle is the most controllable and influential factor.

Focusing on the main contradictions and their main aspects in dynamic changes has been a persistent commitment of the National Healthy Lifestyle Action. In recent years, with the development of medical technology, the content of health science popularization has become more diverse, and the content and methods of science popularization for different populations have gradually been differentiated and refined. For example, for children and adolescents, the main focus is on promoting knowledge such as oral hygiene, dietary nutrition, and exercise; For the elderly, more emphasis is placed on promoting knowledge about safe medication, mental health, regular physical examinations, and monitoring physiological indicators such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids.

Guo Yanhong stated that at the national level, residents' health behavior and literacy level information will be regularly monitored and released to grasp the public's health knowledge, skills, and behavior level, as well as differences in population of different age groups and regions. The implementation effectiveness of previous health promotion policies will be scientifically evaluated, and various forms of health knowledge popularization and health behavior promotion activities will be targeted for the next step of formulating policies related to healthy lifestyles, Provide scientific support.

For example, the "Report on the Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)" suggests that the smoking rate, second-hand smoke exposure rate, and frequent alcohol consumption rate of Chinese residents have all decreased, with an average daily cooking salt consumption of 9.3 grams per person, a decrease of 1.2 grams compared to 2015. However, the unhealthy lifestyle of residents is still common, and the dietary fat energy supply ratio continues to rise and exceeds the 30% limit. The daily salt and oil consumption per household is still much higher than the recommended value. The use and intake of oil and salt in canteens, restaurants, and processed foods should also be paid attention to.

After reviewing the relevant documents of the National Healthy Lifestyle Action, it was found that the first stage of action is to popularize knowledge about healthy lifestyles based on the characteristics of different populations. The scope of key groups in the second stage has been further expanded and clarified, with the "three reductions and three health" special action also identifying key groups corresponding to different contents. The actions to reduce salt, oil, and sugar are mainly aimed at catering professionals, children and adolescents, and family chefs. The healthy oral action is mainly aimed at children, adolescents, and the elderly, while the healthy weight action is mainly aimed at occupational groups and children and adolescents, Healthy skeleton actions are mainly aimed at middle-aged, young, and elderly people.

The acceptance ability and learning style of different populations vary, "Zhao Wenhua said. Therefore, the methods and methods of health knowledge science popularization activities also vary. For example, for busy working professionals, digital methods such as mobile terminals and social media are mainly used to promote health science knowledge; For children and adolescents, the main approach is to carry out health education classes in schools.

Focus on national action

What is a healthy lifestyle? In 1992, the World Health Organization proposed the four cornerstones of health, namely "reasonable diet, moderate exercise, smoking and alcohol restriction, and psychological balance", which were widely accepted as the main contents of a healthy lifestyle. With the deepening of people's understanding, the content and scope of a healthy lifestyle continue to expand, and contents such as regular sleep and avoiding passive smoking are also considered as the connotation of a healthy lifestyle. Some scholars believe that a healthy lifestyle should cover multiple aspects such as learning, work, sleep, and diet.

30Focus on national action

One person travels fast, everyone travels far. In order to help more people understand healthy lifestyles and better integrate health concepts into practice, the country and local governments are actively cultivating corresponding talents, promoting the active learning of scientific health knowledge and mastering health skills among the general public. Guo Yanhong stated that we should continue to play the exemplary and leading role of healthy lifestyle instructors, nutrition instructors, and social sports instructors, provide volunteer services, strengthen easy to understand publicity for family members, friends, neighbors, and community residents, and continuously improve the health knowledge and skills of the masses.

It is important to scientifically transmit health knowledge to the people, "Zhao Wenhua said. When disseminating knowledge, it is necessary to use language that the people can understand. More importantly, gradually build a healthy lifestyle work network and publicity system, explore the establishment of a healthy lifestyle science popularization dissemination matrix, use unified standard content in the form of dissemination, and speak out at the same time to ensure that the science popularization propaganda content is scientific and homogeneous, Fully improve the efficiency and influence of science popularization communication.

Zhao Wenhua suggests that for individuals, they should actively master scientific and authoritative health knowledge, pay attention to their own health status, regularly measure indicators such as weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids, strengthen their awareness of self health management, and effectively improve their health literacy and behavioral abilities.