The China Disabled Persons' Federation holds a news conference on disability prevention on August 23 in Beijing. [Photo/youth.cn]

China has designated August 25 as disability prevention day to spread information about disabilities and help the public better identify risks.

A national Disability Awareness and Prevention Day was approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, last year.

An estimated 85 million disabled people live in China, accounting for 6.34 percent of the total population, according to a news briefing held by the China Disabled Persons' Federation. One in every 16 people in China is disabled.

Hu Xiangyang, director of the federation’s Department of Rehabilitation, explained why the country needs a disability prevention day.

"Disability prevention in quite urgent in China," said Hu.

"Disability prevention is a systematic project. It needs resource sharing by various sectors to make scientific prevention measures a priority."

Key information about disability prevention in four areas -- genetic disability, disease-causing disability, injure-causing disability and disability rehabilitation -- was released.

"It's our responsibility to help hearing-impaired children recover in a happy way,”said Lv Meisha, founder of Liangyou Mingyin, which is a Beijing-based hearing impaired rehabilitation center and part of a demonstrative project sponsored by the central government.

She called for more charity organizations to become involved in disability prevention and treatment.