IN BRIEF (Page 10)

Canada quake help

The Red Cross societies of China and Canada have signed a memorandum of cooperation on reconstruction in China's earthquake-affected areas.

According to Secretary General of Red Cross Society of Canada Conrad Sauv, who visited China early this month, the collaborative fields will cover community hygiene, youth development, and disaster management.

Cancer forum

Sponsored by pharmaceutical giant Merck Serono, the Individuation Treatment on Intestinal Cancer China Forum was held recently, the first of its kind on tumor cures in line with individual conditions.

Professional researchers and clinical doctors also discussed how to popularize related knowledge among the public to prevent the disease and strengthen clinical training to increase the cure rate.

Poverty relief

The poverty alleviation and development office under the State Council, together with CCTV-7 and Minsheng Banking Corp, launched a poverty alleviation campaign in the country's major poverty-stricken villages this year.

Different from the traditional mode that only offers capital donation, organizers of this campaign are trying to help those villages shrug off poverty by offering them free ads and other sales information.

Quake relief

Relief efforts are in full swing in Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, since Feb 20's 5.2-magnitude earthquake.

The county has received 500,000 yuan from the prefectural party and government authorities and 1 million yuan in donations from enterprises and social organizations after the quake and procured such relief materials as coal, rice, flour, coats and cotton quilts.

Unions aid migrants

China's trade unions are planning to extend aid to more than 10 million migrant workers this year.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has called on companies to act as good corporate citizens by cooperating with the federation on this campaign.

The federation said that it aimed to cover about five million migrant workers with employment assistance.

(China Daily 03/09/2009 page10)