BEIJING - China has started health and construction programs to improve rural residents' health, part of a drive to improve the grassroots medical care system, a health official said Thursday.

Zhang Mao, vice minister of health, said the programs, part of the country's ambitious 850-billion-yuan (US$124 billion) health care reform plan, ranged from vaccination drives to improved cooking and sanitary facilities in rural areas.

Also, rural women will get free exams for cervical and breast cancer.

Two million women in 200 counties will be checked for cervical cancer while another 400,000 will benefit from government-sponsored breast cancer examinations, according to the ministry.

The ministry also would strive to get prompt sight-restoration treatment for rural and impoverished cataract patients. About 200,000 operations are expected to be carried out this year, it said.

The ministry will support the upgrading of stoves in 870,000 poor rural households in provinces such as Yunnan and Guizhou to help local residents avoid poisoning from coal fumes. Toilet facilities will be renovated in more than 4.1 million households.

China unveiled a three-year plan on health care reform in April. Under the plan (2009-2011), the government will provide universal access to basic health insurance, introduction of an essential drug system, improve primary health care facilities, equitable access to basic public health services and pilot reform of state-run hospitals.