A senior Chinese official said on December 27 that to ensure the well-being of the population is a public undertaking which needs the involvement of all of society as well as the government.

Addressing the third council meeting of the China Population Welfare Foundation (CPWF), He Luli, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC) and new president of the CPWF, said that the CPWF should try to improve the population's quality while helping the government control the population.

Focus should be on the women of child-bearing age, old people and the poor, poor mothers and particularly on the single-child families in central and west China, she added.

Founded in 1987, the CPWF has been committed to developing China's population welfare. It has raised more than 100 million yuan (12 million US dollars) for the project.

The CPWF also established a project to give financial assistance to poverty-stricken mothers. The 90-million-yuan (11 million US dollars) investment has benefited more than 300,000 people.