China's free cancer screening program benefits rural women

BEIJING - A large number of rural Chinese women have benefited from a national program that offers free cervical and breast cancer screenings in the past decade, the National Health Commission (NHC) said Thursday.

Nearly 100 million free cervical cancer examinations and more than 30 million breast cancer tests have been provided for rural women aged between 35 and 64 since the program was initiated in 2009, said Qin Geng, an official with the commission, at a press conference.

The free cervical cancer screenings program has covered 2,118 counties across the country, while free breast cancer testings are open to women in 1,651 counties, the NHC said.

Measures will be taken to expand the program, with the screenings for the two diseases covering 80 percent of all counties by 2022 and 90 percent by 2030, Qin said.