Published by: World Tibet Network News, Tuesday, July 30, 1996

SHANGHAI (July 26) XINHUA - A truckload of medical workers, equipment and teaching aids traveled for eight days before reaching an Inner Mongolian prairie, where local herdsmen and their children were waiting excitedly for the supplies.

In Hulun Boir, the 70-member team also staged a children's drama for kids from local ethnic groups. Sources said this was the first time children in the region has seen such a production.

The China Welfare Institute, established in 1938, has initiated a series of programs aimed at spreading healthcare knowledge among China's under-educated women and children.

In April, a 66-member medical team went to Jinzhai County, a revolutionary base during the 1930s and 1940s in east China's Anhui Province.

They offered one-month courses to provide additional training to 720 teachers and 50 medical workers. More than 3,000 children and women received physical check-ups at that time.

Later, more medical groups were sent to poverty-stricken regions, including southwest China's Guizhou, the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

By mid-August, approximately 800 teachers and medical personnel are expected to receive advanced training, 2,300 women and children will undergo physical examinations, and a summer camp will be held for 1,600 local schoolchildren.

The China Welfare Institute plans to open a model kindergarten in the area.

"More services will be given to women and children in the relatively poor areas, mountainous regions and former revolutionary bases in the next few years," said Ai Boying, an official with the institute.