Initiatives

A targeted poverty alleviation model for children with congenital heart disease (CHD)

Source: moe.gov.cn
2019-11-14

Sichuan University started cooperation on poverty relief with Yuechi County in Guang’an City from September, 2012. By leveraging the quality medical resources of its four affiliated teaching hospitals, the university joined hands with non-profit organizations to provide targeted support in improving basic health care services in the county. They offered free-of-charge health checks to children from destitute areas and introduced a Green Channel for fast-track admission of children with suspected CHD. Over 25,000 child patients have been treated and cured, while 7 CHD surgical intervention teams have been set up and trained in poverty-stricken areas. A new network for CHD screening has been built, and a new targeted poverty alleviation model for children with CHD has been established.

Training 7 CHD surgical intervention teams. Since 2005, the CHD screening and treatment team of the West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University has created a new targeted poverty alleviation model for children with CHD, by integrating quality resources available and delivering advanced medical technologies of state-level key disciplines to primary-level medical institutions. They have trained 7 CHD surgical intervention teams in the western area of China, helping to increase the success rates of CHD surgeries in the area to the same level as in the more developed areas of China. 

Free-of-charge, delivery-to-site disease screening and treatment services. The team transformed the conventional service model, where the patients were expected to visit the doctor, to a new model featuring delivery-to-site disease screening and treatment services. Over four years, they have travelled more than 300,000 kilometers from the northern border in Xinjiang to the Nagqu County lying at an elevation of 4,700 meters in Tibet, and cured thousands of children with CHD, creating a legendary record with a 100% success rate and a zero mortality rate in cardiac surgery at high altitude. 

Fundraising through charity organizations and caring enterprises. To promote the cause of helping children with CHD, all sectors of society were mobilized, including non-profit organizations, individuals and philanthropic institutions such as Ai You Foundation, China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, Shenhua Charitable Foundation, Yofoto “Love 1+1” Fund, Rotary Club, Ping An Group, and Chengdu Zhixin Industrial Group. A total of 30 million RMB has been raised to provide free treatment to more than 1,200 child patients with CHD.

Facilitating access to medical care. In January 2016, China Mobile cooperated with West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and many Chinese charitable organizations and volunteer groups to launch a poverty alleviation program, which aimed to facilitate access to relief and medical care service for underprivileged minors with congenital heart diseases and their families. Doctors from West China Second University Hospital provide their best timely medical care for these patients.