Red Cross China launches anti-smoking project

Beijing (CNS) -- The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) launched its first anti-smoking campaign on Wednesday. Executive Vice President Dr. Zhao Baige briefed attendees at the opening on how the US$ nine million fund will be spent.

The three-year project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

About 1.2 million of China's 300 million smokers die of smoking-related diseases every year. Five million of all smokers are juveniles, yet many more youngsters than this suffer the effects of passive smoking.

The project will take its resources from other government organs, NGOs and scientific institutes, in order to minimize the harm of smoking to Chinese people as much as possible, explained Zhao.

Specific uses of the fund will be determined during discussions with both the RCSC and the Gates Foundation, and applied to four general areas: policy and status quo studies, publicity campaigns on smoking hazards, evaluation of control methods, and promotion of effective methods for each smoker group, Zhao explained.