MARQUETTE -- As one of the most developed nations in the world, the United States is still struggling to keep its population healthy. According to the surgeon general, obesity has become an epidemic.
As China grows into a world power, obesity is becoming a problem there, too.
Marquette General Hospital is hosting a doctor from Shanghai, China. As his country battles a growing rate of obesity, Dr. Bing Wang, a surgeon from China, is in the U.S. for a four-month tour to watch different types of weight loss surgeries.
This week he's at Marquette General Hospital learning new treatment procedures.
"It's a great experience for me to see their techniques, and I want to see the best way to do that," said Wang.
Alongside of bariatric surgeon, Flavia Soto, Wang learns about gastric bypass surgery, sleeve gastrectomy, and laparoscopic gastric bands.
"We do small little incisions, we use cameras, we insert in the abdomen, we create a space so that way we can see inside the abdominal cavity. This is a way of having minimal invasive approach compared with a big opening," said Soto.
Wang says economic growth has allowed people to eat more junk food and cause them to exercise less, leading to higher obesity rates. In the last decade, obesity rates have increased in China to 10 percent. Wang says it's due to a change in lifestyle and a lack of knowing what obesity is and how it happens.
In China, there's little emphasis on preventative care.
"We have a lack of family doctors, so physicians provide the primary care for the patient in China. That's what we worry about," Wang said.
He wraps up his tour after visiting several other downstate hospitals and plans on returning next year
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