Under the guidance of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) and the Office of the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, the China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF) launched the Health Express for Mothers Project, in 2003, to improve medical services for women in underdeveloped regions of western China. The project's missions include training doctors, transferring pregnant women and critically ill patients to hospitals, and providing free medical consultations and health education. During the past 21 years, the Health Express for Mothers Project has made outstanding contributions to the improvement of living conditions of needy women in China.

Li Le, director of the office of the Health Express for Mothers Project, has witnessed firsthand the project's development. "On July 12, 2003, the first batch of 200 Health Express for Mothers vehicles departed Tian'anmen Square, in Beijing, for Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces, and other areas of western China. In 2021, when I saw vehicle No. 1, which had been scrapped, I couldn't help but cry. It was the only 'survivor' among the first 200 vehicles, and it was 'collected' by the Chinese Charity Museum," Li says. 

During the past 21 years, coverage of the Health Express for Mothers Project has expanded to underdeveloped areas in central and eastern China. Now, more than 3,200 Health Express for Mothers vehicles are providing services across the country. Some 82 million people have benefited from the project, and 13.31 million doctors have received training organized by the project. More than 450 million yuan (US $63.38 million) have been collected and allocated by CWDF to the project. 

Health Express for Mothers received the China Charity Award in 2008, and the project's office in recent years has been named a National March 8th Red-Banner Collective and national excellent unit in protecting women and children's rights and interests. 

Li and her team's members often review their work, to ensure the project's smooth operation. CWDF made top-level designs for the project from a strategic and long-term perspective. Grassroots women's federations and health departments have helped implement the project. Li and her colleagues have visited rural areas, many times, to monitor the project's progress. They have carefully managed the project's accounting records. 

Mobile Hospitals 

In 2003, Xiao Xingyong, then-director of the office of Weng'an County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Southwest China's Guizhou Province, received (in Beijing) a Health Express for Mothers vehicle on behalf of the hospital. Now deputy head of the hospital, Xiao remembers how in 2009 a rural woman was saved with the help of the vehicle. 

The woman, pregnant with twins, lived in Xiaoyuanzi, a mountainous village 40 kilometers from Weng'an's county seat. She had slipped into a coma, which caused her family to call the hospital for help. The Health Express for Mothers vehicle arrived in short order and transferred the woman to the hospital. Finally, the woman and her babies were out of danger. "Without the vehicle, my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren would have lost their lives," recalled the woman's grateful mother-in-law. 

Weng'an County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine didn't have an ambulance prior to 2003. The Health Express for Mothers vehicle has travelled 750,000 kilometers, and its operators have provided medical services to more than 5,000 people in Weng'an. The vehicle has been used to help deliver 1,500 newborns in the county. 

Nationwide, Health Express for Mothers vehicles have been used 1.48 million times to transfer pregnant women. 

Staff have worked all out to raise funds for the project, and they have allocated the money in a scientific and efficient way. They have ensured each vehicle is equipped with key technology, such as an electrocardiograph and a portable color Doppler ultrasound system. The vehicles have global positioning systems so their locations can be tracked. The vehicles have essentially become mobile hospitals. 

Raising Health Awareness 

Managers in the project's office have paid attention to the development of the country, and also to changes in people's demands for health services. They have organized several campaigns, which have provided health-related lectures, free medical consultations, and breast- and cervical-cancer screenings. 

Nie Wenping, head of Gaozhai Township Hospital, in Guizhou Province, noticed that local women changed their minds about medical examinations after they received the services offered by the project. "In the past, many women here were reluctant to have gynecological examinations in hospitals, as they were shy. The project has changed women's ideas, through the spreading of health knowledge. Now, women go to the hospital for treatments when they are sick, and they are willing to have medical checkups." 

During the past 21 years, more than 28 million people, across China, have received free medical consultations, and more than 37.4 million people have received checkups organized by the Health Express for Mothers Project. 

Helping Keep China Healthy 

Xu Yan, a doctor at Minle Village, in Qingzhen, a city in Guizhou, recalls in the past she and her colleagues were disappointed when they were unable to cure villagers. With Xu and other doctors in mind, the project's staff examined the urgent needs of rural doctors, and then determined how best to help the doctors improve their skills, and also how to improve residents' health awareness. 

For example, the project's staff have worked with relevant departments and enterprises to organize a committee of medical experts. Members of the committee have trained 4.3 million doctors (across China) through livestreamed courses, online instruction and by giving guidance during free medical consultations. The project has also funded the establishment of 95 village clinics. 

"Now, if we have problems when treating patients, we can use the devices in our clinic to consult experts in big hospitals online. Some villagers have said, although big hospitals are far away, experts are right in front of us," Xu says.

To build a healthy countryside, greater efforts are needed to encourage women and their families to accept primary responsibility for their own health. 

In 2023, after a year of preparation, the office of Health Express for Mothers Project launched the "Rural Health Manager" program, and it piloted the program's implementation in Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces. Four levels (county, township, village and family) of teams, composed of 1,925 trained women volunteers and grassroots women cadres, have since been established. The teams have promoted health concepts and information among thousands of families. 

To mark the 21st anniversary of Health Express for Mothers Project, CWDF highlighted the coordination and updating of its health-focused projects. The project's staff developed a new plan to improve its services. The charitable project will continue doing its part in helping to build a healthy China.

Photos from CWDF

(Women of China English Monthly November 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha