Charity group launches Belt and Road first-aid project

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) Monday launched a first-aid project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

The project will offer first-aid resources, including ambulances and medical professionals, and public health services along the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor, a 3,000-km network of roads, railways and pipelines linking Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and southwest Pakistan's Gwadar Port.

The first emergency medical center under the project will be built in Gwadar Port, according the CRCF.

The project is sponsored by the CRCF Silk Road Bo'ai Fund, a non-profit program which aims to contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative by providing humanitarian services. The fund was also launched Monday.

As part of the fund, a project on helping children with congenital heart disease in Afghanistanwas announced by the CRCF on the same day.