BEIJING -- A total of 101 hospitals in China's 10 provincial-level regions have been selected to form a national coordination network to combat thalassemia, according to a circular released by the National Health Commission (NHC).

The anti-thalassemia network aims to further leverage the country's high-quality medical resources and advance relevant tasks such as thalassemia prevention and control, diagnostics and treatment, and scientific research, the NHC said.

Over the past years, China has made notable progress in the fight against thalassemia. The total number of new severe thalassemia cases across the country's hardest-hit provincial-level regions has declined substantially.

Through coordination mechanisms within the network and with relevant maternal, child care and grassroots medical institutions, the country's resources will be shared more efficiently, anti-thalassemia capacity will be boosted and the whole-process service model for thalassemia patients will be further developed, the NHC said.