The 2019 China Family Health Conference opened in Beijing on December 7. The Population Culture Development Center, under China's National Health Commission (NHC), and the Family Health Special Committee, under the Chinese Medical Information and Big Data Association, sponsored the event. Gu Xiulian, Vice-Chairperson of the 10th NPC (National People's Congress) Standing Committee, and Zhang Dongmei, Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), spoke during the meeting.

Zhang spoke about the outstanding contributions of ACWF and NHC in helping women and children, especially those in poverty-stricken areas across the country, improve their health. To this end, the federation and the commission have implemented various projects nationwide over the years. For example, the organizations have offered free screening for cervical and breast cancer (the "two cancers") to rural women across the country. More than 130,000 impoverished women, who suffered from cervical and/or breast cancer, have received financial aid (from the organizations), to cover the costs of their medical treatments.

Zhang said women's federations, at all levels across the country, will organize various activities, including giving lectures to women and distributing handbooks, which provide information about healthy lives, among women, so they can better help their families improve health.

(Women of China English Monthly January 2020 issue)