Health Projects
Developing a Healthier Future
Simple diseases which can be easily cured become life-threatening when not treated.The majority of Chinese living in rural areas are not covered by government health care and cannot afford vital medical services. Many do not have access to safe drinking water or sanitation facilities. Often, these poor hygiene conditions lead to the outbreak of severe diarrhoea and skin infections especially in the young and elderly.
China HIV/AIDS Program
 | |
Red Cross peer education workshop designated for HIV/AIDS prevention, reduction of stigma and discrimination among students | |
 | |
 |
Red Cross volunteers working at the Red Cross “Drop-in” Centre in Deyang of Sichuan Province. |
| |
There is a huge under reporting of AIDS cases, especially in the rural areas. This is for a variety of reasons which include a shortage of testing facilities, trained health staff, as well as stigma.
The reported number of people living with HIV/AIDS has increased by 30% in recent years. Between 650 000 and 1 020 000 people under 49 years were living with HIV/AIDS in China in 2003. Women are increasingly at risk of becoming infected with HIV. UNAIDS estimates that by 2010 between ten and twenty million people will become infected with HIV unless a major scale up is achieved.
Infection rates among intravenous drug users, sex workers, men that have sex with men and former blood donors are also increasing.
Evidence suggests that the epidemic is spreading into the general population. The proportion of female HIV cases has increased from 15.3 % in 1998 to 39.0% in September 2004 and of that the mother-to- child transmission from 0.1% in 1997 to 1.0% in 2004.
There is still a lack of understanding of HIV/AIDS in China. A survey conducted in 2003 found that 17% of Chinese citizens had never heard of HIV/AIDS, and 77% did not know that HIV transmission could be prevented by using condoms.
Huge income disparities, large scale labour migration and gender imbalances are increasing the population's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
B) Red Cross Response
Canadian Red Cross (CRC) has been supporting an HIV/AIDS program in Sichuan Province that has a high prevalance rate. Since 2004, the program includes:
- Reduction of stigma and discrimination through:
- Production and dissemination of educational materials
- Design and implement workshops on discrimination and stigma for staff, volunteers, students, and communities
- Promotion of humanitarian values based on Red Cross/Red Crescent fundamental principles
- Organization of community events, annual World AIDS Day events
- Preventing further HIV infections through:
- Initiate and support peer education and relevant education and prevention programmes for injection drug users, entertainment workers, youth and university students
- Produce and distribute behaviour change communication and other educational materials in local languages
- Care and support through:
- Establishment of drop-in centers for recovering drug users and their families to provide counselling services, vocational training workshops, referrals to community harm reduction programs, HIV/AIDS prevention education
- Initiate and support self-help groups among people living with HIV/AIDS and injection drug users
- Strengthening national society capacity through:
- Supporting HIV/AIDS skills building, awareness raising and advocacy training to strengthen the local response system toward HIV/AIDS
- Support the Red Cross efforts in forging new local partnerships in response to the epidemic, i.e., local public health, CDC and public security, schools, universities, private sector
 | |
Entrance of the Jiya township hospital | |
 | |
Using X-ray machine to examine patient | |
 | |
A nurse talking with a patient | |
 | |
The backyard of the hospital | |
 | |
Dental chair | |
| |
Eyesight Recovery Project in Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan
The Canadian Red Cross is making a real difference in the lives of people who live in remote areas of China by supporting Eyesight Recovery Project.
In 2001, the CRC and the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) launched a new program, the Eyesight Recovery project (ERP) in three out of five provinces.
The ERP is mutually designed by both the CRC and the participating branches.
The program is operated on a mobile basis. Each year a site is chosen by the provincial branch to focu on where the need is greatest.
The local branch takes full ownership of implementation and monitoring of the project. Pre-surgery activities are done by the county-level Red Cross branches and the provincial branch provides guidance and monitoring. Post-surgery and public sessions to disseminate prevention messages are carried out by the local branches.
Since 2005 the ERP has been expanded to CRC five provincial partner branches. Up to now, the project has enabled more than 3000 cataract patients to recover their sight, thus reduced the social and economic burden.
Support hospital project in remote areas of Xinjiang
Hotan is in a remote agricultural and underdeveloped region in the southern part of Xinjiang. It is a 2.45 hours travel by air from Urumuqi, the capital city of Xinjiang. Geographically, the area is situated in the southern edge of the Taklimakan dessert, one of the most hostile environments of our planet. Sandstorms are very common with little vegetation and no rainfall all seasons around. Lop county has 238 villages of which Jiya is considered one of the poorest.
The Jiya township hospital serves a population of 20,000 people. The nearest referral health facility is the Lop county hospital is thirty km away.
The project was identified by the Xinjiang Red Cross branch and the Hotan Prefecture Red Cross. Due to the poverty level of the town and the lack of equipment at the local hospital, health services were limited. The hospital was staffed by six doctors, eight nurses and one pharmacist. It had twenty beds but often would have up to 30 in-patients when the project initiated in 1999. The hospital owned a blood pressure meter, a stethoscope and a clinical thermometer.
The objectives of the project were to improve the health care services available to the people living in Jiya township and to improve the operational and financial management capacity of the Xinjiang Red Cross branch.
With the financial support from a private donor in Vancouver, the CRC funded three main components of the Jiya township hospital project: professional training, installation of medical equipments and basic hygiene education in Jiya town. As a result, the hospital is able to provide timely medical services to the local people. In addition, project has generated more interest and financial support from the local government to build the capacity of the hospital.
Canadian Red Cross Health Projects
Help the most vulnerable in China by supporting these vital health projects. Contact your local Red Cross, call 1-800-418-1111 or e-mail yunhong.zhang@redcross.ca.
