China has kicked off a three-year diabetes-themed training campaign for grassroots doctors as the number of adult suffers of the major chronic disease in China hit 97 million.

The project, jointly launched by the Chinese Medical Association and the China International Medical Foundation, will foster more than 100,000 doctors specializing in diabetes treatment at county-level hospitals, according to the association Thursday.

Figures from the Chinese Health Education Center show that about 9.7 percent of Chinese above the age of 18 and 19.6 percent of those 60 and older suffer from diabetes.

Experts have underlined a lack of public knowledge on how to prevent and control the disease as only 36.1 percent of adults with the disease are aware they have it, and just one third of treated patients have their blood sugar under control.

"Preventing and treating diabetes has become a significant task in our fight against chronic diseases," said Zhou Jun, an official with the Ministry of Health. "The project mobilizes our country's diabetes experts to train grassroots doctors, aiming to strengthen local hospitals' ability to treat the disease."

According to the association, the project adopts a two-way mode to invite local doctors to learn at leading hospitals as well as sending experts to local hospitals to give courses.

The project is expected to cover more than 1,300 hospitals at county and city levels by 2014.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2012)