China
China is undergoing huge economic and social changes. There is a widening gap between rich and poor. Some children - particularly those from minority ethnic groups - can't get treatment when they're ill and don't go to school.
- We're helping 87,000 children get a better education
- We're giving 13,500 young people the skills they need to earn a living
- We're providing a safe space for 47,500 children
- We're supporting 19, 000 children affected by HIV and AIDS
Save the Children in China
We helped people affected by severe floods in China in the 1930s and provided food and shelter to victims of the war with Japan. Our activities now are focused on: improving children's experience of school and making sure that all can attend; protecting children from harm; reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS, helping children who are affected by the virus; and preventing deaths caused by water-borne diseases.
We're improving the quality of education
Some children leave school to seek jobs, and some to help their families survive because they are so poor. Since 1992 our teacher-training programme in Tibet has helped teachers make their lessons enjoyable and stimulating for all students. Lhasa Municipal Education Bureau has now asked us to extend the programme to the two other counties in Tibet.
In 2006, Save the Children supported the training of more than 3,700 teachers in Tibet and Yunnan. Between them they are educating about 87,000 children.
We're protecting children from harm
An estimated 100,000 Chinese children are abandoned each year, most of them girls, or children with disabilities. We've set up 37 centres in the past year in Yunnan, Anhui, Xinjiang and Tibet, largely run by the children. The centres provide a safe space for more than 29,910 children, some of whom are children left behind when their parents migrated to cities to seek jobs. We're now involved in 62 centres across 20 provinces, which serve approximately 47,500 children.
We're preventing trafficking
National and local community action has resulted in fewer children being trafficked within China, but more children are being trafficked across its borders, both into and out of the country. The Chinese government has asked us to help with the development of the national action plan against trafficking, and to devise ways of taking better care of children within local communities.
We're fighting HIV and AIDS
At the end of 2007, China had an estimated 700,000 people living with HIV, 85,000 of whom had AIDS. In central provinces in China, there are high numbers of children orphaned by AIDS as a result of widespread blood selling during the 1990s. Many children affected by HIV and AIDS experience discrimination at school or in their communities.
Save the Children has set up 15 children's activity centres in villages with a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS and in poverty-stricken districts of Fuyang City. More than 3,200 children take part in activities such as story-telling competitions, art and drama. Altogether these activities benefit about 16,700 children.
Find out more
- Download the full China country brief (PDF 123KB).
- Read 12 year old Hongjiao's experiences of education in China.
China related articles
- Wednesday 21 May 2008 Chinese earthquake: Child quake survivors desperate for support
- As panicked people abandon buildings following prediction of a second major earthquake, Save the Children sends in an international team to advise on dealing with stress.
- Thursday 15 May 2008 Save the Children calls for safe places for children in China
- As China reports 14,866 dead - with the figure set to rise - Save the Children calls for safe places for children and their families to take cover.
- Tuesday 13 May 2008 Children main victims in China earthquake
- The number of deaths from China's earthquake yesterday is reported at 11,921 with almost 7,000 hospitalised and 60,000 unable to be reached. The numbers are likely to climb once communications are restored.
- Tuesday 13 May 2008 Number of victims mount in aftermath of an earthquake measuring 7.8 in south-west China
- In China, at 3pm their time yesterday, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the richter scale hit the Wenchuan county in Sichuan Province. Xinhua agency is quoting 5,000 dead and thousands more injured.
- Wednesday 11 June 2008 China one month on: Children in quake zone need ongoing help to recover
- The three million children affected by the Sichuan earthquake one month ago will need support for years to come to recover from the aftermath of the disaster.
