China and Africa have been a community of shared interests and shared destiny. Their collaboration benefits not only the development of China and Africa but also promotes the unity and cooperation of developing countries. Health cooperation is a powerful testimony to the friendship between Chinese and African people. Based on win-win cooperation and aiming at the well-being of the people, China and Africa have attained fruitful results through health cooperation over the last five decades.

China started to deploy medical teams to other developing countries in 1963. So far, it has sent 24,000 medical workers to 66 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Oceania, treating nearly 270 million patients. Chinese medical teams are now deployed in 51 countries and regions, including 42 African countries, with 1,178 medical workers at 115 medical centers. Twenty-seven Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been shouldering the responsibility to send medical teams to the African continent. Till now, more than 1,000 Chinese medical team members have received medals and awards from African leaders; more than 50 have died of disease, injuries, turmoil or accidents in the line of duty.

Angels in white

Of all cooperation projects, Chinese medical assistance to Africa started the earliest, with the most remarkable results and covering the most African countries. Medical personnel have carried forward China's fine traditions, overcoming difficulties in work with dedication and superb medical skills. They have made excellent contributions to medical care development and people's health in recipient countries, and deepened the friendship between China and these countries. Warmly welcomed and praised by the recipient governments and their people, the Chinese medical teams have been hailed as "models of South-South cooperation" and medical workers as "angels in white," "envoys of friendship" and "diplomats in white coats."

Since the First Ministerial Forum of China-Africa Health Development was successfully held in Beijing in August 2013, China has innovated on health cooperation with Africa and upgraded the cooperation level to meet the higher expectations and requirements of recipient countries under the new circumstances. China has carried out Brightness Action campaigns in six African countries and provided free cataract surgeries to over 2,000 patients. China has built ophthalmic centers in four African countries and paired Chinese hospitals with those in six African countries for collaboration. China has established standard traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinics in 10 African countries where Chinese medical teams are based and held 113 health-related training courses for over 2,100 African health administrators and medical workers. Through cooperation in technology, and education and volunteers, China has promoted medical technology transfer and helped African countries improve their independent development capacity in health services. China and Comoros have jointly undertaken a project aimed at eliminating malaria by using artemisinin, reducing the malaria mortality rate to zero in Comoros in eight years. The pilot project to prevent and control schistosomiasis conducted by China and Zanzibar, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), has achieved positive results.

China supports African countries' efforts to build medical facilities and health service capacity. Since 2013, the Chinese Government has constructed 38 medical facilities and provided 50 batches of medical equipment and supplies to African countries. Chinese enterprises and non-governmental organizations have helped African people get better medical services by means including building and running hospitals, investing in pharmaceutical factories and localizing medicine production.

Fighting Ebola

In 2014, an Ebola outbreak occurred in Western Africa. China worked with the international community to assist the affected countries to combat the disease. China sent four batches of assistance worth $120 million and more than 1,200 medical workers to 13 countries, including the countries affected and their neighbors. To help the affected countries increase their public healthcare capacity, China sent a mobile bio-safety laboratory to Sierra Leone and built a permanent one there to improve the nation's ability to detect the virus. Over 30 batches of experts on public health, clinical medicine and laboratory testing were dispatched to 11 countries, such as Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, helping train nearly 13,000 local medical workers and health personnel in remote areas of these countries.

At the Second Ministerial Forum of China-Africa Health Development in October, China and Africa expanded consensus and made clear the direction of their health cooperation. The forum became a new milestone in China-Africa friendship and cooperation. China will continue to carry forward the principle of "sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith" to explore more ways for mutually beneficial cooperation, to take the new model of China-Africa strategic partnership to a new high and bring more benefits to their people.

Good health is the foundation of a happy life, an eternal pursuit of human beings, and a symbol of national prosperity and people's well-being. In the proposed 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) approved at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, China put forward the goal of developing a "healthy China." Having similar development experience and sharing the same pursuit of health, China and Africa should strengthen pragmatic cooperation, learn from each other and address the challenges in the health sector to achieve common development.