By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-18 07:38

 

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick shares a point with an official of Datong Central Hospital in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, during his visit there on Saturday. The hospital is part of the bank's subsidized medical service network to help the poor. [China Daily/Wu Zhiyi]

Qing Zhiyong was bedridden for several years with a debilitating bone disease. Being too poor to afford treatment, the 59-year-old poor farmer had given up hope of being able to walk again. In fact, he thought he was staring death in the face.

But last Saturday he walked up to a dais to shake hands with World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick in Nanchong, Sichuan Province. And it was not a miracle, but a World Bank medical relief fund, that made it possible.

"I thank the World Bank from the core of my heart for the help that has helped me escape death," said Qing, a resident of a remote village in Datong, about 200 km from the Sichuan Province capital of Chengdu. Qing comes from the poorest 20 percent families in Datong, and got a $100 healthcare subsidy from the World Bank for his treatment.

Chen Jiazhi is another patient to benefit from the scheme. He still remembers the acute abdominal pain and severe diarrhea he suffered four years ago. Almost dehydrated, he was rushed to the township hospital. An emergency doctor examined Chen and told his family that he was suffering from acute enteritis and must be hospitalized for treatment.

Chen recalled he'd wanted to forego the treatment because his family couldn't afford the medical bill. But the hospital didn't let him go. He was admitted for five days and got the best possible medical treatment. He was discharged only after recovering fully. "His treatment cost 661 yuan ($90), and the fee came from the special medical fund for extremely poor farmers," hospital director Qing Jingfu said.

Despite being pleased by the project's success, Zoellick said the "incomplete healthcare system" in rural areas was a major challenge for China on its road to development and social harmony. "I think this is one of China's biggest challenges, especially in the rural areas." His bank, he said, will introduce a new financing mechanism for more poor households to help them get better healthcare.

Zoellick's concern is not without reason. The China Development Research Foundation has said in its recent Anti-Poverty Report that the growing cost of healthcare, along with the low income of people working in the agricultural sector and children's education are the three top causes of poverty.

The country has done everything possible to alleviate poverty and brought down the number of people living in absolute poverty from 218 million in 1980 to 23 million today. Most of these people live in mountainous or remote areas that are not well connected. The resources available are limited so it's almost impossible to develop the local economy. And nearly half of such people say it's difficult to make ends meet because of the high cost of medical services.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security says it has already brought 70 percent of the farmers under a cooperative medical insurance network. But an average farmer still has to bear at least half of the medical cost.

This is where the World Bank comes in because apart from offering medical help to poor families, it is mulling providing micro-credit to farmers and migrant workers to start small ventures of their own.

In Nanchong, for instance, the World Bank has helped MicroCred Nanchong offer micro-finance services from this weekend. With a 55-million-yuan ($7.45 million) fund from MicroCred SA of France, International Finance Corporation, FW Bankengruppe of Germany and American International Group, the bank targets small firms and businessmen and rural households. MicroCred Nanchong is China's first wholly foreign invested company and its services include credit, secured mortgage loans. The loan amounts can range from 5,000 yuan ($677) to 75,000 yuan ($10,163) at a monthly interest rate of 1.1 percent and a minimum and maximum period of three to 18 months.

"This can help some farmers and migrant workers set up small businesses and create more jobs," Zoellick said. He will discuss the possibility of setting up a comprehensive rural financing network with Chinese policy bankers this week.

Most of the farmers and migrant workers cannot borrow money from banks. Banks do provide 90 percent of enterprise capital in China but they favor large companies with good potential to make money. So Zoellick aims to go further than the normal banks. China is placing a lot more emphasis on growth that balances with social and environmental concerns. Given the resource crunch and the difficult challenges facing reform, innovative approaches and ideas will be critical to China's goal of having a well-off and healthy society by 2020.

"Innovation will be a key in future World Bank cooperation with China," Zoellick said. Potential areas identified for the future include improving energy efficiency and introducing new approaches to promote balanced urbanization.

At the weekend meeting with his old friend Bo Xilai, the new Party secretary of Chongqing, Zoellick agreed to cooperate with the country's biggest municipality in research on how to expedite urbanization without harming the environment and helping avoiding slums. Chongqing is likely to have twice as many residents in a few years, which means 10 million people, but the municipal government has to take steps to bridge the sharp urban and rural divide.

"If we can do something and set an example in integrating urban and rural development, the experience can be useful for the rest of the world," Zoellick said. China has already begun exporting its anti-poverty experience to other countries. The UN and Chinese government have set up the China International Anti-Poverty Center, offering the country's experience in alleviating poverty to African and other Asian nations.

Nearly half the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives on less than $1 a day, and people's life expectancy is below 50 years mainly because of armed conflicts, HIV/AIDS, inadequate healthcare and social services. Zoellick said China's experience can help change the situation in such places, and the World Bank will work with the country's policy banks to jointly launch projects there.

His suggestion conforms to China's development priorities in Africa. Apart from poverty-reduction aid, China has also encouraged its companies to increase investment in agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, infrastructure and resource exploration sectors in Africa.

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences President Zhai Huqu said: "China's expertise in certain sectors can help the African people." The country uses advanced agricultural technology, seed cultivation and oil exploration, and makes inexpensive and durable light industrial products and machinery. Plus, its enterprises are competitive in road and railway building, telecommunications, irrigation and energy.

"This, in essence, is how China performs its international stakeholder role," Zoellick said.