Chinese President Xi Jinping has encouraged members of a Chinese medical team sent to Africa to benefit local people with their medical proficiency and medical ethics, and to better present China to the world through their concrete actions.
Making the remarks in a letter replying to the 19th Chinese medical team dispatched to the Central African Republic, Xi praised the medical personnel for overcoming difficulties in work and life in providing services for local people, saying that they are not only saving lives, but also building friendship. These include those in China’s international medical aid missions. This year marks the 60th anniversary when China sent its first medical aid team abroad.
Over the past six decades, China has sent medical teams consisting of 30,000 members to 76 countries and regions across five continents, providing 290 million diagnoses and treatments for local people. Chinese medical teams are currently working at 115 sites in 56 countries around the world, of which nearly half are in remote areas with harsh conditions.
This latest move is in line with one of the major programs of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024) that spells out initiatives under Medical Care and Public Health. China appreciates Africa’s support in various forms for China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Africa also commends China for taking the lead in providing the continent with anti-COVID-19 supplies and vaccines, the construction of the Africa CDC headquarters, and sending medical expert teams to share experience in fighting the pandemic.
The two partners will continue to strengthen health exchanges at various levels, carry out regular policy dialogues and technological exchanges on health, so as to build a China-Africa community of health for all. Both sides will continue to hold the Ministerial Forum on China-Africa Health Cooperation as a sub-forum under the FOCAC framework.
China will continue to scale up medical assistance to African countries and step up cooperation with Africa on COVID-19 prevention and control. China is supporting African countries in building national public health institutions, including information sharing and technical cooperation on public health.
It is supporting Africa in comprehensively improving its health situation, strengthening its capacity for self-reliant development, and building a more responsive public health system. China will provide African countries with technical support for strengthening health-related capacities under the International Health Regulations (2005), and jointly safeguarding global public health security.
During COVID-19, China supplied hundreds of millions of vaccines to Africa through bilateral and multilateral channels, including the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. It also supported African countries to improve their vaccine production, storage and delivery capacities. China is providing one billion doses of vaccines to Africa, including 600 million doses as donation and 400 million doses to be provided through such means as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries. Africa welcomes China’s support to the waiver of intellectual property rights of their COVID-19 vaccines.
China and Africa will increase cooperation on strengthening the capacities of local drug production including the development of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and the improvement of medical products regulatory systems. China will help accelerate the establishment of the African Medicines Agency and support the African Medicines Regulation and Harmonization program to improve the effectiveness of the medical products regulatory systems.
China is expediting completion of the Africa CDC headquarters. It plans to undertake 10 medical and health assistance projects for African countries, and speed up the building of China-Africa Friendship Hospitals. China supports African hospitals in developing specialised departments, cultivating more health professionals, improving hospital facilities and carrying out all-round academic and technical exchanges and cooperation in the areas of medical teaching and research. China supports African countries in improving health services and hospital management.
In support of the Catalytic Framework to End AIDS, TB and Eliminate Malaria in Africa by 2030, China will continue to carry out anti-malaria projects and share anti-malaria success experience with African countries, and to reach the goal of global malaria control and elimination programme with the international community.
China will assist Africa to halt and reverse the double burden of communicable (HIV, TB, Malaria and Schistosomiasis) and non-communicable (cancer and cardiovascular diseases) diseases through enhanced bilateral and multilateral collaboration, sharing of best practices and support to identified priority programme. China will help Africa reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates, improve the survival and health of pregnant and postnatal women and newborns, and support African countries in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals before schedule.
China will use the Belt and Road Demonstration and Training Platform on Health Cooperation to share its best practices and appropriate technologies in such areas as maternal and infant health, public health, hospital management and screening exams through online and offline exchanges and training, so as to support African countries to enhance the service capacity of their health systems, make basic health services more accessible, and promote the realisation of full health coverage of the African people.
The two sides will enhance cooperation on drug supervision, support Africa’s efforts to improve its public health testing capabilities, and encourage Chinese enterprises to cooperate with African countries. China encourages and supports Chinese enterprises’ medical and pharmaceutical cooperation with Africa, supports the two sides’ cooperation in traditional medicine, encourages traditional medicine to be included into the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases including COVID-19 and malaria.
