China to strengthen social support in poverty alleviation

2017-08-19
Xinhua

BEIJING — China is going to incorporate more social sector services to assist the country’s poverty alleviation campaign.

The services will include psychological counseling for the impoverished, special protections for left-behind rural children unaccompanied by their parents and guidance in readjusting for relocated people, according to a guideline jointly issued on Aug 18 by authorities of civil affairs, finance and poverty reduction.

The government should allocate more resources to train professionals and strengthen social organizations in poverty-stricken areas, the document said.

It also identified various pilot projects, such as pairing 300 leading social service organizations from developed regions with their counterparts in less-developed areas in the following three years.

China has set 2020 as the target to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society, which requires the eradication of poverty.

As of the end of 2016, there were still 43.35 million people in China living below the country’s poverty line.