Ensuring children get healthy start

Medical team work to combat heart disease brought on by low oxygen levels at high altitude

The Chinese Red Cross Foundation launched a healthcare program in 2006 to provide medical treatment to rural children with congenital heart disease.

The flagship hospital for the initiative was Mudanjiang Cardiovascular Hospital in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

Since 2015, the hospital has switched from a passive "waiting for patients" approach to an active "identifying potential patients" strategy, dispatching medical teams across more than 40 counties and cities in Heilongjiang, who have screened some 600,000 children.