From August 14th on, medical and health researchers from Zhejiang and the U.K. began to work together on a five-year international cooperation project in ten counties on a trial basis in order to improve the medical conditions of poverty-stricken people in urban and rural areas of Zhejiang. 

At the signing ceremony of the Sino-U.K. cooperation project, ˇ°Improving the Medical Conditions of Poverty-stricken Population in Urban and Rural Areas of Chinaˇ±, hosted by Zhejiang Provincial Public Health Bureau on August 14th, Centre for International Health and Development, University College London, signed the project agreement with Zhejiang Provincial Medical Association, Zhejiang Provincial Association of Rural Health, Zhejiang Provincial Association of STD and AIDS, and Zhejiang Normal University.

It is learnt that the project is funded by the British Department for International Development with a total of 3.3 million pounds. It is launched in August, 2008, conducted in 10 counties of Zhejiang on a trial basis before expanding to another 10 counties in Anhui Province.

It is also learned that the project mainly involves setting up a database of health indicators, guiding the communities in decision-making supervision, establishing and implementing standard management criteria in health services at the county to provincial level, improving the cooperative medical care and medical insurance system, and promoting standard treatment in dealing with common diseases.