A diabetes care program was launched in Meishan of Sichuan province to explore a chronic disease management model that suits China on Tuesday.

The strategic agreement signed by the Meishan Municipal Government, Sanofi China and the China Diabetes Innovation Alliance is a 10-year program with 50 million yuan to be invested during the first five years.

Accoring to Luo Jiaming, Deputy Secretary and Mayor of the Meishan Municipal Committee of Sichuan, for the first time, the "Meishan model" involves cooperation between the government, organizations and enterprises instead of being a government-led model. "We are willing to share the know-how generated from the Meishan Project with cities across the country to benefit more people," Luo said.

Meishan, located in southwestern Sichuan, is known as the home of celebrated poet Su Dongpo (1037-1101 of the Song Dynasty as well as for its reputation as a "place of longevity" in China.

Together with Chinese Diabetes Innovation Alliance, the city announced the establishment of a chronic disease control system that aimed to benefit millions of patients last year. By creating the Meishan Model, which features standardized, IT-based innovative management of chronic diseases, they are striving to make the city a model for the management of chronic disease in China.

China is home to 300 million people have been diagnosed with chronic diseases and 110 million of them are diabetics. Chronic diseases account for 86.6 percent of total deaths.

Unlike the traditional one-way process of "diagnosis and treatment between physician and patient," the Meishan Model promotes a closed four-link loop with the complete process of screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.

The project will work with community-level medical organizations to establish the database of 50,000 people in the first phase. Then the team will conduct screening, follow-up, standardized management, and five-year intervention follow-up studies for diabetics to build a chronic disease prevention and control network covering a million people.

Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Country Chair of Sanofi China said Sanofi will integrate in innovative drugs and disease manamement as well as the latest internet and digital technologies for chronic disease management at the grass-roots level in China to support the Healthy China 2030 initiative.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard both made a visit to China this year and pledged closer health cooperation between the two countries.

Sanofi is one of the earliest foreign-funded enterprises to enter China and set its China headquater in Shanghai in 1982. It boasts 9,000 employers in China while 100,000 in more than 100 countries all over the world.

Han Wenxin, Director General of the China Diabetes Innovation Alliance said the Meishan Model is expected to attract more companies like Sanofi China. Once fully adopted and perfected, the project will expand and, based on diabetes management, take on other chronic diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia and cancer. "Geographically, the project will also expand from Meishan and Sichuan to community hospitals across the country," Han said.