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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Martin Farrer

China’s ‘hidden epidemics’: the preventable diseases that could reshape a nation

Huge room full of closely spaced beds
A makeshift Covid-19 hospital in Haikou, Hainan Province of China. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

China faces a health emergency from “hidden epidemics’’ of diseases such as cancer, heart trouble and diabetes that could have far-reaching social, economic and demographic consequences for the world’s most populous nation, experts have warned.

Although China imposed the world’s strictest lockdowns to protect its people from Covid-19, the deadly impact from non-communicable diseases is much less well understood and threatens to kill tens of millions of Chinese in the coming decades without tougher public health policies.

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