SHANGHAI - Chinese women have a greater awareness of health than men and are more active in promoting national health literacy, according to a report released on Tuesday by SCA, Europe's largest health products company.

The report was released at a forum titled "Women and Hygiene," co-sponsored by SCA, the Shanghai Health Education Association, and the Shanghai Educational Press Group.

SCA, a Swedish group, studied nine countries - Australia, China, France, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States - and surveyed a total of 7,000 people.

"The report is aimed at improving the understanding of the connection between health, hygiene, and wellness around the world," said SCA Asia Pacific President Ulf Soderstrom.

The survey found that two-thirds of Chinese women think they are a major force in improving sanitary conditions and 47 per cent think maintaining good health is the most important personal hygiene issue, 15 per cent higher than Chinese men and nine per cent higher than the global average, said Soderstrom.

"Health and hygiene has become the most important issue in the world today. This is one reason why we commit ourselves to the report on hygiene matters each year," he said.

"Although people's health awareness has increased, nearly two-thirds of Chinese people believe that their living environment and lack of general hygiene knowledge are the most important issues when dealing with daily personal hygiene care," said Zhong Lixin, president of the Shanghai Educational Press Group.

"The need for heavy investment in health education and a lack of funds have been problems for relevant organization," Zhong said.

As an important part of the education industry, he said, health education has made good progress in promoting the health literacy of young people and teachers in recent years.

"We are gratified to find that 80 per cent Chinese people pay more attention to personal hygiene than they did 10 years ago," he said.

Hu Bijie, chairman of the Hospital Infection Control Branch under the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, agreed.

"But improving sanitation is still a matter of great urgency," he said.

Hu, who is also a professor at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, said women are more likely to be affected by poor hygiene than men.

According to the report, 53 per cent of women in China are always or often concerned that their health will be affected by sanitary conditions.

Fifty-six per cent of Chinese respondents believe that women are more seriously affected by harsh environments than men; 66 per cent of Chinese women surveyed have recently given up using bathing facilities such as public swimming pools or gymnasiums because of bad sanitary conditions.

In addition, the percentage of Chinese women who recently have been reluctant to go to restaurants, bars, or cafes for sanitary reasons is 17 per cent higher than the global average, said Soderstrom.

Chinese respondents said the best way to improve health and hygiene standards is to enact more stringent laws and regulations and pay more attention to sanitary conditions in public areas.