Chunming Chen
EDUCATION
1943-1947 Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Central University Bachelor of Science
POSITION HELD AND ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2001-present Chairperson of the Board, ThankTank Research Center for Health Development
1992-present Senior Advisor and Professor, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine before 2002)
1985- present Professor on Nutrition, Chinese Center for Disease Control
1983-1992 Founding President, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine
1989-1999 Dean, Union School of Public Health, Beijing Union Medical University
1982-1984 Director-General, Department of Health and Epidemic Prevention, Ministry of Public Health
OTHER APPOINTMENTS
2001-present Senior Advisor, State Consultative Committee on Food and Nutrition
INTERNATIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Jan. 2004-present Advisor, International Life Science Institute Focal Point in China
2002-present Board member of Center for Health promotion, ILSI
2002-present Member, Board of Directors, GAIN (Global Al iance for Improved Nutrition)
1995-present Member of Advisory Group for 2020 Vision, International Food Policy
Research Institute
1996-present Member of Advisory Committee of International Obesity Task Force
1993- Jan.2004 Director, International Life Science Institute Focal Point in China
2002-2004 Member, Reference Group for Strategy for Non-communicable Disease
Prevention of World Health Organization
2000- 2005 Member, FAO Eminent Expert Panel on Ethics on Food and
Agriculture
1979- 2002 Member, Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition, World Health Organization
MEMBERSHIP OF ACADEMIC SOCIETIES
International Life Science Institute Focal Point in China
Fel ow, International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS)
Honorary Chair, Chinese Nutrition Society
RESEARCH WORK
Establishment of China Food and Nutrition Surveil ance System and 15 year Surveil ance during 1990-2005 Nutrition policy research based on 2002 National survey on Nutrition and health status of Chinese residents Child nutrition and complementary feeding programs
Food fortification in China focused on anemia prevention
OTHER APPOINTMENTS
2001-present Senior Advisor, State Consultative Committee on Food and Nutrition
INTERNATIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Jan. 2004-present Advisor, International Life Science Institute Focal Point in China
2002-present Board member of Center for Health promotion, ILSI
2002-present Member, Board of Directors, GAIN (Global Al iance for Improved Nutrition)
1995-present Member of Advisory Group for 2020 Vision, International Food Policy
Research Institute
1996-present Member of Advisory Committee of International Obesity Task Force
1993- Jan.2004 Director, International Life Science Institute Focal Point in China
2002-2004 Member, Reference Group for Strategy for Non-communicable Disease
Prevention of World Health Organization
2000- 2005 Member, FAO Eminent Expert Panel on Ethics on Food and
Agriculture
1979- 2002 Member, Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition, World Health Organization
MEMBERSHIP OF ACADEMIC SOCIETIES
International Life Science Institute Focal Point in China
Fel ow, International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS)
Honorary Chair, Chinese Nutrition Society
RESEARCH WORK
Establishment of China Food and Nutrition Surveil ance System and 15 year Surveil ance during 1990-2005 Nutrition policy research based on 2002 National survey on Nutrition and health status of Chinese residents Child nutrition and complementary feeding programs
Food fortification in China focused on anemia prevention
Overview on nutrition in China, past and present
As a developing country, China is in double burden of nutrition problems, both under-nutrition and over-nutrition due to imbalance dietary pattern changes.
The prevalence of underweight of children under 5 h as been dramatically reduced from 19.1% in 1990 to 6.9% in 2005, stunting prevalence from 33.4% to 10.5% in 2005. The significant reduction of underweight happened since 1990 but stunting reduced only since 1995. The peak age of under-nutrition of children under 5 was 18-24 months. According to WHO 2007 Ref
erence, the stunting prevalence of children aged 5-12 years old was 16.5% (boys) and 16.6% (girls), in adolescents aged 13-18years was 8.6% and 12.2% respectively in 2002, while it was around 20-30% in 1992. But in poor rural area the prevalence of stunting still high, 28.3% for children aged 5-12 years and 21.8% for adolescents13-18 years old. Among elderly, underweight prevalence in rural areas was more than double of that in urban areas. Anemia is a common micronutrient deficiency in China and it changed very little even under the speedy economic growth, the national average prevalence for women was 23.3% in 2002, and the anemia prevalence was 30-40% among children 6-24 month of age.
The prevalence of diet-related chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes have been going up very fast, 18% of adults were hypertensive in 2002 and about 30% were overweight or obese. 20 % of children aged 7-17 in big cities were overweight or obese.
The factors attributed to nutrition improvement and existing nutrition problems in the past decade are:
(1)
The rapid economic growth, achievement in poverty reduction and the farmer-favorable policies which resulted income increase and food availability in the market. (2) Dietary factors/feeding of young children performed dual-direction impact of both under-nutrition and chronic disease. (3) Social development such as education, environment also played significant role in nutrition status of the population.
The future strategic considerations could be: to give higher priority to the investment to nutrition of children 0-24 months, to focus on nutrition in poor rural area s and to develop community-based chronic disease prevention framework. Implementation of dietary gui
delines to the public and iron deficiency anemia prevention should cover the overall population.
