The fund, called the “China Special Fund for Children’s Leukemia”, accepts donations from individuals and institutions.

Oasun Environmental Hi-tech Ltd., a Shanghai-based hi-tech company, has donated 10 million yuan to the fund and become the first donor.

Leukemia, a kind of cancer, is fatal disease among children. In China, around four out of every 100,000 children aged under 15 years suffering from leukemia, and each year, nearly 20,000 children under 15 fall victim to the disease.

According to Hu Yamei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the honorary president of the Beijing Children’s Hospital, the number of young patients with leukemia is surging. Children’s cancer, lead by leukemia, has become the second major cause of death for children aged between five and 15, following pneumonia, in China.

In Beijing, cancer has topped other causes of death for children. Currently, in China, it takes three years and costs 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan, on average, for a young leukemia patient to receive medical treatment, which is not affordable for many of the patient families. In addition, the present treatment methods bring both pain and side effects to the children.

The CCF president Yan Mingfu also addressed the ceremony, calling for the public to help the country’s young leukemia patients and urging experts in the field to make greater efforts in their research to combat the disease.

(Xinhua 05/28/2001)