Second, we will establish a comprehensive policy package to assist students from poor families. We will establish a sound system of national scholarships and tuition assistance for regular undergraduate institutions, vocational colleges and secondary vocational schools and institute free education for students majoring in education in teacher colleges directly under the Ministry of Education. The central government has set aside 9.51 billion yuan in 2007 to expand the number of policy beneficiaries and increase the level of assistance. We will try our best to establish a systematic, scientific, fair and efficient system of policies to assist students from poor families during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period to provide the institutional guarantee that basically all students from poor families can attend school and to promote equal opportunity in education. The focus of policies will also be sharpened by putting more emphasis on the central and western regions, rural areas, vocational education and disciplines whose graduates the country needs the most. These moves are designed to adjust and improve the educational structure, produce personnel with the diverse array of talents and skills required by society, guide and promote employment, and avoid having too many candidates fighting for the same jobs. All these policies and mechanisms show that China is now working to set up a sound policy framework to guarantee funding for education, starting by strengthening the basic link of compulsory education and helping the population of needy students. This approach will prove to be a more effective way to solve the serious problem of inadequate and unaffordable education. The central government is also strongly supporting efforts to develop vocational education and improve the quality of higher education.

4. We will adopt a variety of measures and policies to make medical care more available and affordable. Health is not only the basis of people's wellbeing, but also the foundation for all-round personal development of the people. It is also an essential element for the sustainable economic and social development of the country. The central government has earmarked 31.276 billion yuan for 2007 expenditures for medical care and public health, an increase of 14.536 billion yuan or 86.8 percent over 2006.

First, we will offer free prevention and treatment of major communicable diseases. We will strive to prevent and treat disease wherever possible and strengthen monitoring and control of diseases wherever we can. We will incorporate legally designated major diseases that can be effectively prevented through inoculation into the national vaccination plan. We will expand free treatment of people with AIDS, tuberculosis or snail fever to include treatment of people with leprosy or other diseases where treatment would be effective. We will strengthen guaranteed funding for prevention and control of major communicable diseases, support training programs to spread knowledge related to prevention and control of such diseases and raise the level of prevention and control. Policy changes will result in the central government replacing local governments as the main source of funding for prevention and treatment of major communicable diseases as stipulated by law. Not only will more patients directly benefit from the new policy but the spread of diseases will also be better controlled and all of society will benefit.

Second, we will accelerate the building of the new type of rural medical cooperative system. Trials of the new system will be expanded in 2007 to more than 80 percent of the country's counties, county-level cities and city districts, thus basically setting up the new system across the country one year ahead of schedule. The central government will continue to provide a subsidy of 20 yuan per person in rural areas of the central and western regions and give appropriate assistance to the rural population of the eastern region. Subsidies from all local governments will also be increased to 20 yuan per person. In addition, we will continuously improve methods and standardize management to ensure that the rural population truly benefits from the new system.