Old revolutionary base revives amid China's poverty alleviation efforts
- By Cui Can
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, February 9, 2021
Migration and resettlement
Before 2016, 207 households in Dawan village had been living in rundown, brick-and-clay houses, and 18 of them lived in houses that were 100 years old. To live in new houses has been a lifelong dream for them.
By the latter half of 2019, four resettlement sites had been built in Dawan village, accommodating 201 residents from 62 impoverished households. Chen Zeping was among the first to move to the newly built community that has a better transportation infrastructure and apartments mostly paid for by the government.
Living in the brand new communities with improved environment and public services, Chen and his fellow villagers got rid of their heaviest burdens and become more confident in building up the village.
Health plan
Tucked away in remote mountainous areas, Dawan village did not have easy access to medical resources. Disease and disability often caused poverty in the village. In 2014, people who fell into poverty due to illnesses accounted for 71% of the total poor population in the village.
Zhou Xiufeng's family is one of the households driven into poverty by medical crises. Her father died of stomach cancer, her mother has high blood pressure, and her daughter has been suffering from chronic osteomyelitis for years.
To ease the burden of healthcare expenses for impoverished residents, Jinzhai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has entered a pairing-up program to provide Dawan residents with healthcare assistance. Health professionals conducts regular home visits to treat patients and ensure that healthcare services are accessible to low-income families.
"In the past, I was like shouldering all the burdens only by myself, and now they help me to reduce 70% to 80% of that," Zhou said. "I feel relieved."
The new healthcare system comprises basic health insurance, serious illness insurance, and medical assistance, and it covers all the villagers living in poverty. Under the system, people living in poor households have only to pay a maximum of 10,000 yuan each year for medical costs.
