At 5:00 am, it was raining and refreshing in Beijing. 3 hours later, at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Chicheng County, Hebei Province, 200 km away from the capital, hundreds of women were waiting in an organized queue ......

Since the launch of the project "Preventing diseases and poverty, and promoting rural revitalization" by the Western Returned Scholars Foundation (WRSF) and the Chicheng County Government on July 26, it has attracted a total of nearly 5,000 women from Chicheng. Since the launch of the project, nearly 5,000 women of the appropriate age (30-64 years old) have enrolled in the programme.

Local women inquire about public health screening forcervical cancer and breast cancer at the entrance of Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

Advocating for social care for women's health at grassroots level

Cervical cancer and breast cancer are two of the most prevalent malignancies affecting women's health, and early screening, diagnosis and treatment are globally recognised as effective measures for cancer prevention and control. The Healthy China Action (2019-2030) states that the coverage of screening programmes for rural women for cervical cancer and breast cancer should be gradually expanded to achieve a coverage rate of over 80% and 90% for rural women of the relevant age group by 2022 and 2030 respectively.

Based on this, the WRSF launched the "two preventions and one promotion" public welfare screening program for women to prevent two cancers and contribute to the Healthy China Action (2019-2030). Over the past few days, the " buzzing sight" at the entrance of Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital has created a lot of excitement in the surrounding area. People cannot help but wonder what activities can mobilize women of the relevant age in the county to participate enthusiastically in a short period of time. It was also one of the key objectives of the field visit to see how the project was being carried out.

Local women scan the QR code to book an appointment and get more information.

At 8.30am, there was a long queue at the Chicheng County Maternity and Child Health Centre, with many women arriving early in the morning to queue up for a check-up. The queue on site was mainly middle-aged women, with some slightly elderly women.

At the beginning of the project, the online booking system launched by the WRSF on WeChat public platform was overflowing and there was a time when booking was temporarily closed. Later, two temporary offices were set up at the entrance of the hospital to strictly implement the flow restriction measures of booking online and handing out numbers on site in order to divert people who scheduled appointments to be checked.

Temporary appointment triage desk at the entrance of the Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

"Hello doctor, how do I fill out this form?" "Can I still make an appointment today?" "When will the results be ready?" Tian Qinwen, head of the health department of the Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital, was constantly registering and answering questions for women who came for screening at the temporary appointment desk set up at the entrance of the hospital.

"According to the epidemic prevention requirements, we now have 100 numbers in the morning and 100 numbers in the afternoon, so we can guarantee a daily screening amount of 200 people." Tian Qinwen said that the health centre has an annual requirement for free screening for "two cancers", and basically maintains a daily screening capacity of around 20 to 30 people, but this time the women were very enthusiastic, which was rather unexpected.

A long queue for the public welfare breast cancer screening programme for women at the Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

At 1 p.m., at the sampling point of the cervical cancer and breast cancer public welfare screening for women at the Longguan Town Health Centre, 40 kilometres away from the Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Centre, the scene was also heated. "The screening in the morning has just finished, the doctors have just gone out for lunch, come back at 2.30 pm." The staff of the town health centre kept on telling the women who came for screening.

"Everyone come and listen to me, this is self-sampling, different from the traditional examination, please register with me first ......" It was not yet two o'clock when Dr. Han Chunxia from Longguan Town Health Centre hurried over to explain patiently to the women in the queue the notesto be taken for the screening, with 50 more people already booked for the examination in the afternoon.

Dr. Han Chunxia explains instructions for screening to women who come for the test.

Ms Zhu, 35, has had two experiences of screening. "I saw the news about the free screening at the town health centre from the WeChat group and immediately made an appointment. Zhu has a basic understanding of women's screening for the cervical cancer and breast cancer and opted for regular check-ups, while 54-year-old Ms Wang came for her first screening, "I was not aware of this before, but I will definitely pay attention to it in the future."

"There is now a higher awareness of cervical cancer and breast cancer screening and the government also does this programme for women every year for free. Thank you for expanding this work to the grassroots level as well." Han Chunxia and Du Sulan, two grassroots medical workers, expressed their wishes for the charity event and the women.

The charity concept should be practiced throughactions

Mo Wenxiu, chairof the board of WRSF, gave a speech at the kick-off ceremony, highlighting the significance and purpose of this activity. She said that "two preventions and one promotion" in Chicheng County, as a pilot project, is the first step in the implementation of the "Healthy China" public welfare project of the WRSF, which undertakes the task of exploring methods, summing up experience, improving ideas and establishing mechanisms. Through the implementation of the project, we will popularize the knowledge of prevention, promote the change of the concept of centering on treatment to centering on prevention, promote the creation of the project implementation mechanism, promote the creation of the follow-up service mechanism, promote the creation of the digital health service platform, and strive to improve the ability and level of service for the people.

A local woman expresses her gratitude for this public welfare screening programme.

This public welfare project is the " start of the work ", but also " the sincere work ". Through caring for women's health at the grassroots level and spreading the concept of health knowledge, this public welfare project consolidates the achievements of poverty alleviation and promotes rural revitalisation, which has been enthusiastically participated and widely disseminated by the local people.

"Since we are doing charity work, we have to take the actions." The staff of the WRSF who accompanied us couldn't help but express their feelings when they talked about the preparations before and after this charity project, "Our charity activity focusing on women's health this time is to reach out to the grassroots, to really bring the charity to the grassroots and help people. We hope that through this activity, more people will find it important to care for women's health.

The public welfare screening will last for one month, with four fixed screening sites and two mobile smartcervical cancer and breast cancer screening vehicles, which can take samples for screening anywhere, anytime, efficiently and conveniently, and can reach deep into remote areas of the countryside, helping to open up the "last mile" of healthy China.

A long queue at thesmartcervical cancer and breast cancer screening vehicleparked in front of the Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

The trip also included a research on the implementation of the public welfare project. According to the results of the survey conducted at Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Centre and Longguan Town Health Centre, the grassroots women were satisfied with the screening programme, but there were still some blind spots in their understanding of thecervical cancer and breast cancer.

The staff of the WRSF helps to spread awareness of cervical cancer and breast cancer among local women who were eligible for screening.

Creating a "Chicheng Model"

Through the production of posters, the release of a QR code for booking and registration, new media communication, and the full use of the WeChat group of friends of medical and nursing staff at each screening site for accurate promotion, nearly 5,000 people have registered online in just one week, and more than 3,200 people have completed the screening. In terms of the scope of communication, the effect of communication and public participation, it has exceeded the expected effect.

Through this public service activity, the WRSF will form a "model" that can be replicated and learned from. The choice of Chicheng as a pilot projectplace is typical and representative, judging from the preliminary research and the mid-term development.

Local women who are eligible for screening are briefed on health information related to cervical cancer and breast cancer prevention.

Chicheng County is part of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, and was once known as the "nearest poor county to Beijing", where the saying "over a mountain, the income quadruples" circulated.On 29 February 2020, Chicheng County was officially lifted out of poverty.In the past one and a half years, Chicheng is taking solid steps towards rural revitalisation.

Whether it is the fight against poverty or the cause of rural revitalisation, Chinese women are essential. They are participants and promoters. As a female worker, Chen Chaofeng, a cadre in the village of Gaojiayao of Chicheng County's Maying Township Governmentand villagers are benefiting from the national policies for women's groupsover the years. "With the help of the Party and the government, grassroots women's awareness of theirhealth is increasing year by year, and I hope that public welfare projects like yours will come to the grassroots more often."

Earlier, Zhao Hongge, Secretary of the CPC Chicheng County Committee, said at the launch of the event that the public welfare action reflects the importance and respect for women's right to survival and development, is an effective way to help solve the most concerned, direct and realistic problems of the women, and is an effective way to protect and improve women's livelihood and enhance their development capacity and health.

It is true that this public welfare programme is the most vivid and concrete practice of adhering to the people-centred development concept, sticking to the sentiments of the people, doing solid work for the people and constantly meeting the people's pursuit of a better life.

An online booking system on WeChat public platformdeveloped by the WRSF.

The project has specifically developed a system for online booking and online checking for results to make data statistics for cervical cancer and breast cancer screening for women of the relevant age in Chicheng County, forming a recordable and traceable database and providing a powerful grip on women's health services for the local government.

Feng Yujun, the director of Chicheng County Maternal and Child Health Hospital, has a deep understanding of this: "This public welfare programme has brought us advanced technology and health management experience, which has not only improved our screening efficiency, but also brought new changes to the grassroots in terms of disease prevention and publicity. We hope to conduct more health public welfare activities like this in the future so that more people can get the benefits."