Interview with H.E. Mr. Gu Xiaojie, Ambassador of China, on Sino-Africa and Sino-Ethiopia Cooperation in Fighting Malaria

2011-03-17 20:36

I. China's Assistance to Africa in Fighting Malaria

1. Cooperation in medical and health area constitutes an important part of China-Africa Cooperation. Since the Chinese Government dispatched its first Medical Team to assist African countries in 1963, cooperation in medical and health area has been rapidly enhanced between China and African countries. So far, an all-round cooperation partnership has taken shape, including exchanges of medical staff, sending Chinese Medical Teams to African countries on a regular basis, conducting personnel trainings and workshops for African medical staff, establishment of hospitals and Malaria Prevention and Treatment Centers, donation of medicines and medical equipments, etc.

Malaria is not only a big challenge to global public health but also a primary killer to human kind. Every year, there are around 400 million people in the world infected with malaria and 80% of them live in Sub-Sahara Africa. The direct economic loss brought by malaria to Africa reaches up to 12 billion US dollars annually. In order to help to improve the health condition of African people and promote the sustainable economic and social development of Africa, the Chinese Government attaches great importance to the cooperation with African countries in the prevention and treatment of malaria. China has been supporting Africa in fighting malaria for over 30 years and achieved tangible results. The Chinese Government is willing to share with the African countries its advanced scientific and technical results in fighting malaria and further enhance cooperation with them on prevention and treatment of malaria.

2. China's support for Africa and cooperation between both sides in fighting malaria are shown in the following areas.

1) Establishment of Malaria Prevention and Treatment Centers. 30 Malaria Prevention and Treatment Centers sponsored by Chinese side have already been set up, which serve as one of the eight measures proposed at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in November, 2006.

2) Donation of medicines and medical equipments as well as instruments. China has provided anti-malaria medicines and medical equipments as well as instruments to 36 severely malaria-hit African countries for the past 30 years. The Chinese government proclaimed in November 2009, at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC, it would offer medical equipments and anti-malaria materials worth of 500 million RMB Yuan gratis to 30 hospitals and 30 Malaria Prevention and Treatment Centers established in Africa by China from 2010 to 2012.

3) Sending medical expert teams to African countries, which help to assess and prevent the spread of malaria and improve the medical treatment of African countries.

4) Organizing various training courses and workshops on malaria prevention and diagnosis for African medical officials and staffs either in China or in Africa, and inviting African medical professionals working in the Malaria Prevention and Treatment Centers to have further training in China so as to make the assistance a sustainable development program.

3. The benefits and impact of China's assistance to Africa in fighting malaria

1) Cooperation in medical and health area, a major part of China-Africa friendly cooperation, is a historical witness to the profound friendship between the peoples of China and Africa.

2) China's assistance to Africa in fighting malaria and the cooperation in other medical and health area play a positive and important role in improving the medical levels of African countries and the health condition of local people, as well as making contribution to the economic development and social progress of Africa.

3) China's assistance to Africa in fighting malaria helps African countries to establish and improve their preventive and emergency mechanisms in public health.

II. China's assistance to Ethiopia in fighting malaria

The past 10 years have witnessed rapid and sound development of China-Ethiopia All-round Cooperative Partnership. The two sides have engaged in fruitful cooperation in a variety of areas such as economy, trade, culture, education, health and human resources and also maintained close cooperation and supported each other in international and regional affairs. China-Ethiopia relationship serves as an outstanding example in China-Africa cooperation and South-South cooperation.

Medical and health cooperation constitutes a major part of China-Ethiopia All-round Cooperative Partnership. The Chinese Government has already sent 16 batches of medical teams to Ethiopia since 1970s and helped build “Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital” and Malaria Prevention and Treatment Center in Ethiopia. Both sides have been making vigorous efforts in exploring new cooperative areas such as medical staff training.

In 2008, China and Ethiopia exchanged notes on establishment of China-Ethiopia Malaria Prevention and Treatment Center in Ethiopia aided by the Chinese Government, as a measure proposed at the Beijing Summit of the FOCAC. The Center is located in Adama of Oromia State. China has provided furniture, as well as donated a batch of medical materials, anti-malaria equipments and medicines such as Artemether Injection to the Center. The assistance China has rendered to Ethiopia has played a vital role in helping the Ethiopian side to improve its medical treatment on malaria and scientific research in this area. A Chinese expert team including 4 doctors worked hard for 45 successive days in 2009 in helping the installing and testing procedures of the anti-malaria equipments and training a good number of Ethiopian medical staffs in the area of fighting malaria.

Over the past 5 years, China has donated Artemether Injection, a kind of anti-malaria medicine, worth of 6 million RMB Yuan to Ethiopia, playing an effective role in helping the Ethiopian side in fight malaria. China will continue to render assistance to Ethiopia in providing anti-malaria medicines based on the requirements from the Ethiopian side.

China is ready and will spare no efforts to make its continuous contribution to help Ethiopia and other African countries in fighting malaria. I sincerely believe that, with the joint efforts, the cooperation between China and Ethiopia in the medical area will bear more fruits, therefore helps Ethiopia in achieving the MDGs.