The Macau Health Bureau (SSM) urged residents yesterday to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order prevent developing diabetes.
The bureau made the appeal at a press conference about diabetes prevention, during which Wong In, chief of the SSM Community Health Care Department, revealed that the bureau recorded 43,999 diabetes patients last year.
The presser was held at the bureau’s conference hall in a building adjacent to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre (CHSCJ).
According to SSM Director Alvis Lo Iek Long, chronic diseases have become a major challenge to the residents’ health, with around 80 percent of deaths caused by such diseases, including cancer.
“We firmly believe that through the leadership of the [local] government, community organisations’ collaboration and the joint participation of all residents, we will surely be to achieve high-quality chronic disease management and jointly build a ‘Happy Macao’ and a “Healthy China”, Dr Lo said.
Dr Lo said that the most common chronic diseases include hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. According to data from the 2016 Macau Health Survey, 25 percent of residents aged 16 and above have a chronic disease, and 7.1 percent of them have diabetes. In order to achieve the government’s development goal of “Healthy Macao,” it is essential to shift the management of chronic diseases from post-diagnosis treatment towards prevention and early-stage management, Dr Lo said.
Dr Lo also said that the Health Bureau has begun collaborating with various government entities and community organisations this year to launch its “Healthy Community Programme.”
According to Dr Lo, the programme – via both health community consultation stations and pop-up stations – is brought directly to the community to encourage residents to avoid tobacco and alcohol, maintain a balanced diet, engage in adequate physical exercise, and practise stress management. To date, Dr Lo said, the programme has involved over 80,000 participants, or around 12 percent of the population. The programme also complemented online health education initiatives to reach even more residents, Lo said.
Sou Man I, head nurse of the Fai Chi Kei Health Centre, said that in response to the increasing prevalence of diabetes in Macau, the bureau’s health centres are setting up a chronic disease management system based on the government’s “Healthy Macao Blueprint.”
Sou said that through the system – which promotes indicator-based management and is standardising diagnosis and treatment protocols, the professional capabilities of community healthcare workers are being enhanced.
Sou pointed out that the data from 2024 shows that the disease control rates for blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid levels have reached 60.1 percent, 71.2 percent and 60.0 percent respectively.
The proportion of patients meeting all three control targets simultaneously has increased to 29.3 percent, thereby reducing their risk of complications, Sou said
Wong said that according to data collected between 2018 and last year, the number of diabetic patients has increased by 13,000 during the seven-year period, representing a rise of 45 percent. Wong also said that the bureau recorded 43,999 diabetic patients last year.
According to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), the population of Macau in 2024 stood at 688,300, which means that 6.39 percent of the population had diabetes at that time.
According to Wong, the bureau launched its “Chronic Disease Management Programme” last Monday, with the objective of referring chronic disease patients who are in a stable condition to non-profit organisations for collaborative health management.
She pointed out that previously patients needed to visit health centres multiple times for routine complication screenings, but now these can be completed in a single visit at community clinics.
Wong said that currently the Women’s General Association of Macau (commonly known as Fu Luen), in collaboration with the Tap Siac Health Centre, provides 32 appointment slots daily for chronic disease patients.
In the first quarter of next year, the services will be expanded to the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (UGAMM), (commonly known as Kai Fong) in collaboration with the Fai Chi Kei and Ilha Verde Health Centres, Wong said.
The press conference was held in the runup to World Diabetes Day on Friday.
Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long (centre), public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre (CHSCJ) Acting Director (second from left), SSM Community Health Care Department Chief Wong In (second from right), CHSCJ Food and Dietetics Section Dietician Si Tou Ngan Fan (left) and SSM Fai Chi Kei Health Centre Head Nurse Sou Man I pose during yesterday’s press conference at the bureau’s conference hall adjacent to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre.– Photo: Armindo Neves
