Project safety, school enrollment among key issues

More elderly protection

Chinese authorities have banned elderly care institutions from selling health products and services to elderly people to protect them from false advertising.

According to a notice jointly issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and another three central government departments, elderly care institutions are also prohibited from fundraising activities targeting elderly people.

Local authorities should target the above wrongdoings in its oversight campaigns and prohibit the institutions from such behavior or providing support to other entities for such actions.

It called for elderly care institutions to organize more health knowledge activities to help seniors better identify false advertising. It also encouraged institutions and elderly people to report to authorities about false advertising of health products and illegal fundraising.

The ministry initiated a four-year campaign in 2017 to improve the service quality of elderly care institutions. There were a total of 30,000 elderly care institutions and 249 million people age 60 or older in China by the end of last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.