—— Interview with Que Qiqi, President of Macau International Health Management Association
"Dialogue with Macau" reporter Qu Qiangkui Wang Xifu Chang Zijian
The world has entered an aging society, and the more urgent reality is that the sub-health population of the younger generation has suddenly increased. As a result, health has become an important productive force, and it is also a basic element and valuable resource for the survival and development of a country and a nation.
Health management refers to the process of overall management of health risk factors of individuals or groups. Its purpose is to mobilize the enthusiasm of individuals and groups, effectively use effective resources, and achieve the greatest health effect. Que Qiqi, chairman of the Macao International Health Management Association, believes that the living standards of Macao citizens have the conditions and needs to develop health management. Doing a good job in health management can not only make the public have a healthy body to share economic achievements and enjoy life, but also reduce the pressure on the medical system. Combined with the advantages of Macao, health management can also be industrialized in Macao, resulting in considerable economic benefits.
Health is GDP.
Dialogue Macao: The definition of health management is definitely unfamiliar to many people. What aspects are included? What is the difference with disease treatment?
Que Qi Qi: The so-called health management is to manage one's own health and make use of all effective resources, including balanced nutrition and reasonable psychological exercise, to ensure physical and mental health and avoid diseases. It is particularly important to note that the focus of health management we are talking about is to prevent diseases, rather than to treat them after the symptoms of diseases appear. Of course, how to achieve better treatment and rehabilitation effects is also an aspect of health management.
According to my observation of Macao, Macao's awareness of health management is still relatively thin, and it is still in its infancy compared with some developed countries and regions. Therefore, we hope to promote the correct concept of health management in Macao.
Dialogue with Macau: The misunderstanding of health management you mentioned is not only in Macau, but also in China. What do you think is the necessity of promoting correct health management awareness in Macao?
Queqi: From the perspective of physical health, the purpose of health management is to promote the health of citizens. At present, Macao's economy has improved, and citizens' income has increased. However, citizens' health has not improved correspondingly, but it has a tendency of deterioration. Although Macao people like Chinese medicine, they also pay attention to eating some health products, but they don't pay much attention to whether they eat right or not and how to eat it to play a real role. So from the point of view of nutrition, it is often not malnutrition, but excessive fat and protein. Of course, there is also the phenomenon of insufficient intake of some trace elements necessary for the human body, so many diseases have come, such as diabetes and hypertension, which even happen to children and adolescents more and more.
Dialogue Macao: With the improvement of living standards, everyone has the awareness of improving health, but the thinking habits may not change for a while. What is the social significance of understanding and popularizing health management?
Que Qiqi: You are absolutely right. Thinking habits need to be changed. There are often voices criticizing the government's lack of medical resources. Although the government has built and expanded hospitals and health centers, there are still more and more patients. Although it is not appropriate to describe this as a vicious circle, it should also be taken seriously. Can we consider changing our thinking to reduce the incidence of diseases from the aspects of living habits and diet structure, so as to reduce the pressure on the medical system? This is the role that health management can play and the social benefits that health management has. As an advertisement in the Mainland said, "Health is GDP".
On the other hand, citizens also need health management, because only health can better enjoy life, and health is also the basis of happiness. Take the money given by the government as an example. I believe everyone is willing to use this money to travel instead of paying for medical expenses. Moreover, with the current income level of Macao people, we can pay attention to healthy living and pursue quality of life.
Talents and systems are the guarantee for health management.
Dialogue Macao: Did the health management you mentioned just now also include mental health? In health management, which is more important, mental health or nutritional health?
Que Qiqi: Yes, it should include mental health, but mental health is not my major. Let's talk about nutrition and health. Our traditional habit of "drinking soup" and "eating health products" may not achieve good results, because everyone's physique is different, and the way of tonic and maintenance and the intake of nutrients are also different. In other words, health management is very professional and needs professional advice, such as dietitian, health manager or doctor. According to international practice, nutritionists and health managers are the best choice and the key to the whole health management.
Dialogue in Macau: Although nutritionists and health managers are not strangers, they feel that they rarely meet such professionals. I believe there are not many in China. Are there any professionals in this field in Macao now?
Queqi: There is a big talent gap in Macao and the Mainland. According to statistics, the gap between nutritionists and health managers in the mainland is as high as 4 million. Take Japan with good health management as an example, the ratio of nutritionists to doctors reaches 3: 1. Japanese nationals have been followed up by community nutritionists since birth, giving guidance on healthy living and reasonable diet. Even if common diseases occur from time to time, physical therapy and dietotherapy are the first way to stimulate human immunity and restore health. Therefore, Japan will become the longest-lived country in the world, with an average life expectancy of 86 years.
To do a good job in the healthy management of Macao society as a whole, the first thing is to cultivate talents. Adequate nutritionists and health managers are the foundation of health management. Unfortunately, there is no certification mechanism for nutritionists and health managers in Macao, and only relevant certification can be obtained in the Mainland or abroad. At the same time, it is suggested that the government and social organizations strengthen cooperation, popularize healthy life management education in society and advocate healthy life.
Dialogue with Macao: The awareness of health management is the foundation, and the opinions of professional nutritionists and health managers are the foundation, but the citizens have to actually implement it themselves. For example, in food purchase, how do people know whether their choices are appropriate?
Que Qiqi: Your concern is very important, which involves a legislative issue. The United States, Japan and other countries and regions have already implemented the Food Labeling Law, and the mainland has also decided to fully implement the food labeling system from 20 13, forcing food labels to indicate that they do not meet the food labeling requirements and must be removed from the shelves. Gave us a good reference experience.
In Macau, according to our statistics, although many foods in Macau are imported, only 65,438+06% of them have food labels. However, in this statistic, only "labeling" is reflected, and whether the contents of food labels are qualified or not is not considered. In my opinion, this has seriously violated the public's right to know, and also laid a hidden danger for food safety, which will also have an adverse impact on public health.
Health management has industrial benefits.
Dialogue with Macau: As far as we know, many large-scale health management enterprises have emerged in foreign countries and Chinese mainland, and it has become an industry to provide health management services for individuals, families or group enterprises. Do you think Macao is suitable for developing this industry? What is the reason?
Sparrow flag: absolutely suitable, and I think it has a unique advantage. The first is the economic foundation. Although Macao's economy has a single industry, there are also many powerful enterprises capable of making large investments in this industry. Moreover, this is also in line with the overall requirements of Macao's moderate and diversified economic development and the residents' own needs for health management, and I believe it will be strongly supported by the government. In addition to exploring the local market, we also rely on nearly 30 million visitors to Australia every year. If Macao can establish a complete health management industry system and build a well-known brand, I believe many tourists will come here. Just like Taiwan Province Province's "health and beauty tour" to the mainland, Macao can also develop another type of health tourism products and establish the image of Macao as a healthy city. It is suggested that the SAR Government should speed up the development of related industries.
Dialogue with Macao: From this point of view, the health management industry also involves tourism, cultural industries, medical services and other fields. Can we imagine more broadly that health management not only stays in the service link, but also the production and sales of functional Chinese medicine health care products can be settled in Macao to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries?
Que Qiqi: I totally agree with your idea. In fact, some enterprises have already done so. Sometimes walking in the street, I accidentally met a passenger who bought "Taihetang Niuzhangzhi" from a drugstore. Later, I learned that Taihetang products were originally Antrodia camphorata raw materials imported from Taiwan Province Province by Macau Tianyuan Taihe Group. According to international standards and high-tech biotechnology, they were completely extracted, packaged and finally sold in Macao. It can be seen that "Taihetang Niuzhangzhi Capsule" is very popular with tourists. In my opinion, their "takenism" production mode is worth learning and popularizing, and it is also suitable for the direction of Macao's manufacturing transformation and development.
Dialogue with Macao: In fact, mainlanders have long trusted Hong Kong and Macao to produce and even represent health care drugs for rheumatism. Can the planned Hengqin Chinese Medicine Park become an opportunity for the development of health management industry in Macao?
Que Qiqi: Of course. Using the resources brought by Hengqin Chinese Medicine Industrial Park in the future, we can further develop more functional health care pharmaceutical products. Many tourists like to buy products such as "Tai He Tang Niu Zhangzhi" and "Zhang Quan Zhitong Oil", an old Chinese medicine practitioner in Macau. Everyone likes to give gifts to health. If tourists bring this kind of health care product that can reflect Macao's manufacturing, quality and culture back to relatives and friends, it will certainly promote the development of many economic fields. Taking Hengqin Traditional Chinese Medicine Park as an opportunity, it can be predicted that if we continue to pay attention to quality and efficacy, and cooperate with the reasonable recommendation and consumption communication of professional nutritionists and health managers, the health products produced in Macao will hopefully become a new "Macau handwritten letter" business card.