Thirty-one Russian children suffering from cerebral palsy will undergo a three-month treatment in a hospital in north China's Shanxi province, a hospital official said Saturday.

The children will be treated with both Chinese traditional medicine and western medicine in Shanxi Provincial Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Hospital, said Guo Xinzhi, head of the institute.

"Chinese acupuncture therapy will play a key role in the treatment," he said.

About two-thirds of the children have already received the first stage of treatment in the hospital.

"Thanks to the previous treatment, he can walk holding my hand and eat with a spoon now," said a mother of a three-year-old boy named Ivan. "I am hopeful after seeing him make progress in his movement."

Funded by the Danko Charity Foundation in Dagestan, Russia has sent children with cerebral palsy to the hospital for treatment twice a year since 2008, about 30 children each time.

More than 200 Russian children, including self-funded ones, have received treatment here.

Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth, which leads to a lack of co-ordination in muscle movement.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2010)