As of the end of March, the Red Cross "Angel Program" had received domestic and foreign donations of 250 million yuan (US$35.7 million), which helped more than 1 million rural people.

The Angel Program was one of the programs launched by the China Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) in August 2005 to mobilize resources to offer medical assistance to impoverished rural people. The donations represent the money received since its founding.

On Monday, the program received the 2007 China Charity Awards prize for the most influential charity program.

In the past two years, "this program has built 338 clinics and trained 321 health workers for poverty-stricken rural areas," said Wang Rupeng, the CRCF's vice secretary-general. It also helped more than 5,000 needy people pay for treatment of leukemia, tumors and other serious conditions, he said.

"During the same period, equipment and drugs worth 200 million yuan were donated to clinics in poor countryside areas in 27 provinces," he said. The amount is equivalent to about US$28.6 million.

The CRCF is a non-profit, non-governmental organization.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2008)