The Health and Poverty Alleviation Forum was held by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council (PAO) and the China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF) in Beijing on October 16th, 2016, in order to mark the National Poverty Alleviation Day. The deputy director of the NHFPC Wang Peian, the deputy director of the PAO Zheng Wenkai, the vice-chairman of the CDPF Wang Naikun and the chairman of the China Population Welfare Foundation (CPWF) Zhao Bingtian attended the forum and gave speeches.
During the forum, the “China social assistance platform for serious illnesses” (www.zgdbjz.org.cn) was launched. It is based on a database of information on people who have been driven into poverty by illness, and a database with the basic information on medical institutions in poor areas. Its aim is to set up a platform to achieve a direct connection between the relief projects and the patients. Representatives from the government, social organizations, enterprises and academics discussed five topics including how to establish a mechanism to guarantee that the poorest people are able to receive treatment, how to classify and treat serious illnesses, how to enhance people’s physical fitness and how to involve more social forces in the process of poverty alleviation.
In 2016, fifteen related departments have issued a guidance on conducting healthcare projects for poverty alleviation. Policies are being implemented to make sure that poor people are able to access healthcare services and benefit from social welfare. The database of information on people driven into poverty by illness is moreover being expanded. At present the registered poor can pay a reduced sum for their insurance, yet a higher proportion of their expenditure is covered when they are ill.
A donation ceremony for the Warm-hearted Healthcare and Poverty Alleviation Fund was held during the forum, and 150 million Yuan were raised. The Warm-hearted Healthcare and Poverty Alleviation Fund was established by the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the China Population Welfare Foundation. It focuses on operating activities for offering free medicines, first-aid boxes and healthcare booklets for poor households, funding poor people with serious illnesses to receive treatment, conducting training programs for doctors and nurses and providing necessary medical equipment for hospitals in impoverished regions. By this October, with 210 million Yuan pumped into it, the fund had already helped 22326 people with serious illnesses, trained more than 1000 doctors in remote mountainous regions and provided 1047 items of medical equipment for 267 medical institutions in 14 provinces.
