From 30th May to 14th June, Yukio Homma, Director, and Chihiro Uchiyama, Assistant Program Officer, China Program, JOICFP, visited China to monitor integrated project (IP) activities.

Taicang City, Jiangsu Province has been implementing the IP since 1984, and in 2003, the Jiangsu provincial Family Planning Commission started to expand IP activities with their own funding to one county in each of the 12 prefectures in the province.

In Tongzhou County, the IP is being promoted by its own efforts, learning from the experience of Taicang. This includes focusing on taking a human-centered approach, quality of care, informed choice, integrated approaches, and health education promotion.

Collaboration with other sectors is also emphasized, for example, with sanitary education being delivered in schools to improve hygiene through parasite control activities.

The county is also targeting new areas such as male RH, providing services and advice to men, and motivating the public through competitions, plays and the provision of a 24-hour RH hotline.

Health education; schoolchildren
in Tongzhou practice eye exercises

In Ninghe County in the rapidly growing suburban municipality of Tianjin, the local government has invested 4.6 million Yuan R. MB ($556,000) to establish a Family Health Center. As a result, the number of medical staff has increased from 46 to 63, and new services include internal medicine, obgyn, psychiatry, psychology clinics and training for medical staff.

Services are provided on a fee-charging basis, and income has increased from 3.1 million Yuan RMB in 2001, to 4.8 million Yuan RMB. In addition, local people are becoming more accepting of the services provided.

Medical staff in the new Family Health Center in Ninghe

The JOICFP team also visited Guizhou Province. In Huishi County they monitored the IP, and in Daozhen County, they conducted a feasibility study, accompanied by Prof. Wen Yong, Assistant President, Nanjing College of Population Program Management.

The Community Partners Project was implemented to improve the health and living conditions at the community level, using funds collected in Japan from the public. Since 2005, a project in Wangyou, Huishi, has assisted with activities such as construction of a village health clinic, biogas toilets, buying pigs for income generating activities for poor mothers, assisting under-privileged children to go to school, parasite prevention, and health education.

Raising the health consciousness of the community is a key part of the project, as well.

Under-privileged children
who were supported to go to school in Huishui

Constructing a biogas toilet in Huishui

JOICFP realizes that it is important to provide a range of high quality services according to the development of the community, from the basic IP, to new and innovative ones that meet the needs of the people in a human-centered manner.