China Wednesday began a 3-year project to train 100,000 community-level doctors in diabetes prevention and treatment.

The Ministry of Health and the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association are the program's sponsors.

China has 94 million diabetics aged over 20 years of age, accounting for 9.7 percent of the total population above that age, according to a survey by the Society of Diabetes of the China Medical Association released earlier this year.

Under the project, diabetes experts will give lectures at grassroots hospitals and coach local doctors.

The project also features a web-based learning platform, which is expected to deliver diabetes training to over 400,000 subscribers each year.

The project will also raise public awareness of diabetes prevention and treatment.

It is China's second such initiative against diabetes this month, following the Oct. 5 launch of a project to train 1,000 community-based glucose management experts in 20 major cities.