China has issued a new set of guidelines aimed at expanding capacity and upgrading the quality of the service sector.
The guidelines, released by the State Council on Tuesday, state that the total scale of China's service sector is expected to reach 100 trillion yuan (about 14.58 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
More "China Services" brands will be fostered by then, with the sector's global competitiveness and influence significantly enhanced, and people's sense of gain steadily improving, according to the guidelines.
Efforts should be made to strengthen the supporting role of science and technology services, enhance the competitiveness of modern logistics, and accelerate innovation-driven development in software and information services.
Priority should also be given to expanding the supply of high-quality services for residents, improving the elderly care and childcare services, enhancing the quality of health services, and fostering new models in culture, tourism and sports-related services, according to the guidelines.
China attaches great importance to the development of the service sector. The country held its first national conference on the service sector earlier this month, while its latest five-year plan also calls for improving the sector's quality, efficiency and competitiveness.
In 2025, China's service sector made up 57.7 percent of GDP and contributed 61.4 percent to the country's economic growth. It also provided around half of the country's total employment.
China issues guidelines to improve capacity, quality of service sector
A massive public health blind spot has emerged in the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as communication barriers are leaving many people with hearing impairment cut off from crucial health information about the deadly outbreak.
Since the ongoing Ebola epidemic was declared in May, the Congolese Red Cross (CRC) has launched a nationwide awareness-raising campaign, with posters put up on the streets and health messages broadcast on television and radio stations to reach as many residents as possible.
However, for the nation's deaf community, these life-saving updates have been hitting a wall of silence.
In the northeastern city of Kisangani, many deaf people still struggle to understand the message being disseminated, as it is not tailored to their specific needs.
"So far, preventive measures have only been explained to us superficially. We aren't truly equipped. We need adapted educational materials to better understand the signs of the disease and recognize the symptoms of Ebola," said Zacharie Dunga, director of the Espoir School for the Deaf in Kisangani.
The DRC government has announced targeted intervention plans, promising to restructure its public health response to fully integrate people with disabilities.
"We have implemented a range of strategies tailored to each group, including people with disabilities --the visually impaired, and the deaf or hard of hearing. We have produced communication materials in Braille. We are also refining our messaging to see how we can incorporate sign language interpreters to convey information regarding EVD (Ebola Virus Disease)," said Christian Tshilenge, an expert in risk communication and community engagement.
The current outbreak has become the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in the DRC's history and the second largest globally, behind the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.
According to the latest data released by the DRC government, the country has recorded 7,541 confirmed Ebola infections as of Saturday, with 3,639 fatalities.
Communication barriers put deaf community at risk amid ebola outbreak in DR Congo
