The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) on Thursday introduced a guideline on temporary assistance solutions to poverty reduction, which provides basic guarantees and prevents people from slipping back into poverty.

Jointly formulated by the MCA, the Ministry of Finance and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the guideline elaborated temporary assistance measures to provide food, clothing, education, basic medical services and safe housing for the impoverished, according to Liu Xitang, an official with the MCA.

Temporary assistance measures would cover poverty-striken families resulting from high expense of sudden disease, relocation, post-disaster construction and children's education, the guideline said.

The guideline also called for frequent visits to the families that have already been lifted out of poverty and offer timely assistance to them to prevent them from returning to poverty.