As a social organization of science and technology on the national level, the Chinese Medical Association (CMA) responds actively to the task and requirements of health poverty alleviation put forward by the Chinese government, attaches great importance to the health poverty alleviation work, and gives full play to its advantages of having extensive connections with various industries and with all walks of life, as well as to the advantages of the experts and the active roles of scientific and technological communities in poverty alleviation work. With a view to boosting the development of medical and health services in China’s poverty-stricken areas, CMA’s health poverty alleviation leading group thoroughly carries out the essence of poverty alleviation documents adopted at the 19^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, reduces or exempts registration fees through academic conferences for doctors in China’s west region, at the grassroots level and in poverty-stricken areas, grants transportation and accommodation subsidies to grassroots doctors, intensively patronizes clinical scientific research projects of west region, donates much-needed materials such as medical equipment to impoverished regions and counties and medical periodicals to grassroots hospitals, and launches activities such as CMA Thousand Talents Cultivation Program for county hospitals, etc.

As a typical case of the health poverty alleviation work conducted by CMA, the Thousand Talents Cultivation Program for county hospitals（abbreviated to “Thousand Talents Program”）adopts approaches of “going down to grassroots to offer help” and“ushering in grassroots medical staffs for training”to improve grassroots doctors’ abilities in diagnosis and medical treatment and to favor the health of impoverished masses. The following is the brief.

I.  Going Down to Grassroots to Offer Help—Popularization of Medical Sciences and Technologies

In 2017, the “Thousand Talents Program” invited a total of 223 experts（205 associate seniors or higher and 18 PhDs）to popularize sciences and technologies in 7 provinces, 13 prefecture-level municipalities, 13 counties and 34 hospitals, with ward-round teaching, surgery teaching and gratuitous treatment for the rank and file serving as a platform for study, communication and sharing among grassroots doctors. In this way, the“Thousand Talents Program”set up a bridge of partnership between grassroots hospitals and major hospitals. 8 events conducted in the year attracted a total of 4914 participators, with 4800 copies of data compilations issued gratuitously and downloads of the electronic version reaching 7149.

In addition, some CMA branches secured funds from other sources or used their own funds to conduct special training courses much needed by grassroots units or poverty-stricken areas. In 2017, CMA’s pathology branch conducted the“West Bound”pathology training course in 2017 to teach 165 trainees gratuitously；the anesthesiology branch offered the clinical anesthesia guide training course；and the pediatrics branch launched the 11^th Pediatricians’ Lecture Tour in West China, etc.

II.  Ushering in Grassroots Medical Staffs for Training—Further Education and Training for Grassroots Doctors

In 2017, CMA organized two batches of core-member doctors totaling 207 from county hospitals in 10 provinces to receive a 5-month professional training at 37 provincial Class-A tertiary comprehensive hospitals with a view to improving their abilities in standard diagnosis and treatment of common and frequent diseases, which provided a personnel support for reducing the referral rates from counties.

10 provinces, including Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Hubei, Yunnan, Henan and Hunan, were chosen for the pilot project. The provinces were a linked aggregation of destitute areas as listed by Poverty Relief Office of the State Council, highlighting the requirement of improving health conditions for poverty-stricken areas.

The trainees came from 177 hospitals, 91.7% of which were county hospitals or hospitals at the county level（trainees from impoverished counties made up 32.27%, and those from poor cities accounted for 7.73%）while 5.8% were prefecture-level hospitals. The trainees were all honored with the professional title of attending doctor or higher and had an educational background of college degree or above. Two-thirds of the trainees were less than 40 years old and signed the letter of commitment to promise return to their original units after training to serve continuously at the grassroots level. The pilot project accorded with the sanitation and health work guideline of the new era and observed the “Enhancing Grassroots” spirit stressed in the medical reform and complied with the requirements of establishing and perfecting the mechanism for conducting further education among grassroots health workers as well as training among core-member doctors of county hospitals as are put forward in the National Health and Family Planning Talents Development Plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan and the National Health and Family Planning Professionals Training Plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The training related to 12 specialties, of which 76% were about gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, intensive care medicine, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, psychiatric medicine, etc., which are much-needed specialties underscored in the National Health and Family Planning Talents Development Plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan.

To ensure the quality of the further education and training, CMA signed entrusted orientation training agreements with the said 37 Class-A tertiary comprehensive hospitals and appropriated training funds directly to the hospitals to entrust them to cultivate the trainees and issue qualification certificates to the eligible after the training. Apart from entrusting provincial medical associations to guide and appraise the training work in their provinces, CMA also organized a supervising team composed of 10 famous experts in pediatrics, gynecology, intensive care medicine, ultrasonic medicine and medical pedagogy to launch intensified inspections from Sep. 21^ST through 22nd, 2017 in Sichuan where trainees were relatively concentrated. The experts went to Sichuan Maternal and Child Health Hospital and Chengdu First People’s Hospital, where they made on-site inspection over the implementation of the training system by the hospitals. In the meantime, the experts offered ward-round guidance and conducted case discussion and academic lectures, etc. CMA also invited representatives of medical associations of other 9 pilot provinces to constitute a research group to watch live demonstrations and make work discussions to enhance the implementation of the training quality requirements and the overall progress in the provinces.

CMA has formulated its “2018-2020 Work Plan for Health Poverty Alleviation Projects”. In the future, CMA will conduct its health poverty alleviation work more accurately, give more play to its advantages, adhere to the problem-oriented and demand-oriented principles, improve its participation and input efficiency and effectiveness in poverty alleviation work, and make its due contributions to the construction of a“Health China”.

  Background Information：A brief introduction to the Chinese Medical Association

The Chinese Medical Association (CMA) is a non-profit national academic organization in China. It is an important social force in the development of medical science and technology and a linkage between the government and the medical professionals. Established in 1915, the CMA now has 88 specialty societies and 667,000 members in China.

Major Functions of the CMA include: developing domestic and international medical academic exchange activities; discovering, recommending and cultivating medical talents; editing and publishing 184 medical and popular science journals including print and electronic, books and over 2,000 audio-visual products; carrying out continuing medical education projects and training specialists; implementing medical project evaluation and review and as well as science and technology decision-making demonstration; selecting and presenting awards for outstanding achievements in medical science and technology; promoting transformation and practical application of medical research results; disseminating medical and health knowledge for the general public; organizing technical appraisement on medical malpractice and AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunization); undertaking the functions and missions entrusted by the government, and relaying suggestions and requests from the medical professionals to the government.

The current 25th CMA council was elected in December 2015, with HAN Qide and CHEN Zhu as CMA Honorary Presidents, ZHONG Nanshan and BA Denian as CMA Consultant, and MA Xiaowei as CMA President.The Vice President and Secretary General is Dr. RAO Keqin.