News & Events
Becton Dickinson Sponsors China's First Five-Year Diabetes Education Program
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Beijing, China (October 27, 1997) -- Project HOPE, with support from the Ministry of Health, launched China's first national full-scale diabetes education project, theChina Diabetes Education Program, at a signing ceremony today in Beijing. The program is sponsored by Becton Dickinson, Boehringer Mannheim and Eli Lilly, and is aimed at improving diabetes prevention, management and care in China. This comprehensive training and educational program is a national effort that will take place in six major cities over the next five years. According to Professor Chen Minzhang, Minister of Health, the incidence of diabetes is rapidly increasing in China, and this program will play an important role in improving diabetes understanding in China to curb that growth. On behalf of the Ministry of Health, I would like to say that we look forward to cooperating with Project HOPE and the sponsoring companies to achieve this goal. As part of the program, special diabetes training centers will be established in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xian, and Chengdu over the next five years. The program will train medical and nursing faculty in an effort to integrate patient treatment and education. In addition to hands-on training, several doctors will be awarded overseas fellowships for more specialized training. During the first year of the program, 85 medical professionals will undergo comprehensive training. By the end of the fifth year, an estimated 240 doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and other medical professionals will be trained. Dr. Zhu Xi Xing commented, "The type of diabetes we see in China is no longer genetically derived; rather it is due to changes in people's lifestyles and eating habits as China's economic development progresses." The China Diabetes Education Program will help confront these changes so as to better educate the medical community and the general public on how to prevent and better treat this disease. The three leading international media technology and pharmaceutical companies, Becton Dickinson, Boehringer Mannheim, and Eli Lilly, are working with Project HOPE and the Ministry of Health to implement the program. In his toast at the ceremony, William Walsh, Jr., CEO of Project HOPE remarked, I thank every organization that has participated in the development of this important program to improve diabetes education and care in China. The Ministry of Health, Becton Dickinson, Boehringer Mannheim and Eli Lilly have played an instrumental role in the creation of this project. Together I believe we will make a difference in providing better health opportunities for people everywhere. Founded in 1958 in the United States, Project HOPE is a non-profit, global organization that has been in China for 13 years conducting a wide variety of medical training programs. Over 1.3 million medical professionals have been trained by Project HOPE worldwide. In 1998 Project HOPE and Shanghai Second Medical University will open China's major state-of-the-art pediatric referral training hospital, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, in Pudong, Shanghai.
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