Bayer champions healthy lives through education tour

Health talks supported by Germany-headquartered Bayer HealthCare were enjoyed by more than 100 employees at Hehua Farm in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on a snowy day in early November.

The talks were part of the last event of this year's "Yearly Education Tour for Enterprises in China", a project launched in May 2011. The two-day event also provided Hehua personnel and nearby herdsmen with free hypertension screenings.

Wang Chun'ao, a retired professor from the College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine at Shandong Agricultural University, delivered a lecture about common diseases infecting both cows and humans, including contagious brucellosis, and how to prevent them.

Kuang Zemin, a hypertension doctor at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, talked about prevention and treatment of hypertension.

Experts said people from the farms and pastures in North China's Inner Mongolia are at high risk of some chronic diseases, such as hypertension, as their diets are typically high in salt, animal fat and alcohol.

Kuang said there are usually no subjective symptoms for the majority of hypertension patients and controlling blood pressure as early as possible is one of the best ways to protect heart and cerebral vessels and improve quality of life.

The former Ministry of Health released results of a national survey in December 2009 that showed 6.48 percent of the Chinese population had health literacy, which refers to the ability to acquire and understand basic health information and use it to maintain good health.

The Chinese Center for Health Education under the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the national newspaper Life Times initiated a project called "Yearly Education Tour for Enterprises in China" in 2011, which is supported by Bayer Healthcare.

Chitra Hepburn, head of corporate communications and sustainable development of Bayer Greater China, said, "As a world-class innovation company with a more than 150-year history, we feel deeply honored to be able to contribute our part especially by sharing our rich experience in public health education through this project over the past five years."

By November this year the project had invited more than 150 experts to give lectures and provide health management services to staff from some 100 companies and public institutions, including China Petrochemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec Group, and China Mengniu Dairy Co, in 50 cities across China.

To date, more than 60,000 people have participated in activities organized by the project.

Bayer Healthcare was granted the "2015 Annual Award for Excellence in Health Communication" by the project in Hohhot on Nov 5.

According to Hepburn, Bayer has made efforts in health promotion and education, especially prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, across China with the Chinese Center for Health Education and Life Times since the beginning of the project.

The company has introduced innovative drugs in the country for treating chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and acquired rich experience in chronic disease management.

The education tour project carried out health literacy surveys in companies to identify key factors that affected people's health and, based on the survey data, provided these companies with advice to help their employees become healthier.

Bayer's clients also include veterinarians and animal owners, whom the company helps cure animal illnesses and diseases.

The company hosts summit forums to bring advanced animal health concepts to dairy farms in China. This year's forum invited international experts to speak to more than 200 enterprise representatives about how to manage cow metabolism, raise calves and prevent calves from illness.

Bayer launched a smartphone application called BCS Cowdition in November 2014 to help veterinarians and farmers conveniently and accurately grade body conditions of cows and diagnose metabolic disorders.

Bayer AG separated a subgroup, MaterialScience, legally and economically this year and changed its name to Covestro, according to Bayer's website.

From Jan 1, 2016, Bayer's operations will be divided into three divisions - pharmaceuticals, consumer health and crop science, which the company hopes will help it become more competitive.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/13/2015 page10)