53-year-old Guan Yanping has volunteered to provide medical services to the poverty stricken people in a mountainous town in southwest China’s Yunnan Province for a number of years. Over the years, Guan and her team have hiked over 300 times steep, narrow mountain paths to treat people in 46 remote villages.

A native of south China's coastal city Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, Guan originally volunteered to provide medical service in Bingzhongluo Township, Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang, southwest China's Yunnan Province, in March 2017.

For the sake of the villagers' health, Guan extended her service period from the original six months to three years so that she could continue working in the mountainous region.

Because some of the villages are separated by mountains and the rough waters of the Nujiang River, Guan and her colleagues have to carry medical equipment such as electrocardiogram and ultrasound machines with baskets and trek across steep, narrow mountain paths to provide healthcare to the mountain dwellers.

It takes Guan and her team half an hour to more than three hours to hike from the foot of a mountain to those remote mountain villages, some of which are situated at an altitude of over 3,000 meters.

What's worse, their journey is constantly interrupted by heavy rains, which can trigger landslides and mudslides that cut off roads completely and make their journey even more dangerous.

Practicing medicine for mountain dwellers who are unfamiliar with the practice of thorough medical examinations can be challenging for Guan. For instance, residents in one particular village were so reluctant to get a blood test that they refused any examination involving blood being drawn.

Guan had to ask a colleague who knew the local dialect to explain to the villagers the necessity of blood tests and the fact that it would not harm them. Eventually, a senior resident in the village volunteered to get a blood test and the misperception pertaining to blood exams was gradually eliminated.

In April this year, Guan finished her three-year medical volunteer mission, and returned to Zhuhai with the fifth batch of Medical Assistance Team to Gongshan County.

Thanks to her efforts, every resident including all the poor population in the township now have access to a family doctor.

"There are tens of thousands of people working for poverty alleviation and I am just one of them," said Guan.