China's nutrition program benefits 37m rural students

Twin girls Liu Yuting (R) and Liu Yuyao take free lunch at the No. 4 Primary School in Jianhe county of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Sept 6, 2017. Free lunch project has improved diets of rural students in Guizhou since 2012. The nutritious lunches helped address malnutrition among students in remote and poor areas. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUIYANG - About 37 million rural students have benefited from the Chinese government's nutrition improvement program since 2011, according to the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

The program was launched to improve nutrition for rural students, with the government allocating three yuan ($0.45) a day to students to supplement their diets with nutritious meals. This was increased to four yuan in November 2014.

Chinese government has allocated 124.8 billion yuan (about $19 billion) in the nutrition improvement program which covers 1,631 counties in 29 out of the 31 provincial-level regions on Chinese mainland, according to the ministry.

The students' physical fitness has improved. Data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that prevalence of anemia among students dropped from 17 percent in 2012 to 7.6 percent in 2016.

According to the ministry, it will work with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and National Health Commission to improve food preparation and supervision, ensuring food is safe as well as nutritious.