From August 8 to 10, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a Three-day visit to three West African nations the worst hit by the Ebola virus - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea - with pledges to continue support for post-Ebola recovery, and cooperate in reducing poverty and realizing development. He Wenping, a senior researcher of the Charhar Institute and researcher of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told ChinAfrica that Wang's Africa visit indicates further Sino-African cooperation in the building of a public health system in post-Ebola Africa. Excerpts of her thoughts follow:

This was Wang's sixth visit to Africa after he became China's minister of foreign affairs in 2013, making him the first foreign minister of a country outside West Africa to visit the three West African countries on one trip since the deadly epidemic broke out. During his visit, he learned about the demands and wishes of the three countries for economic and social reconstruction in the post-Ebola period and discussed ways of strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between China and African countries and China's role in the economic and social development of the three countries.

Improving public health system

The outbreak of Ebola occurred in Guinea in December 2013 and then spread to Liberia, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal. The death toll in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea reached 140,000. It was the most widespread and fatal Ebola epidemic in history.

To combat the virus, considerable human, material and financial resources were earmarked, both by the West African countries affected and the international community. China, the United States, United Kingdom, France and Cuba, among others, provided money, medical supplies, virus detection laboratory equipment and medical experts to help Africa fight this battle.

China has been at the forefront of African countries campaigns against Ebola and since the early stage, has been focusing on the building of a public health system in Africa in the post-Ebola era. China sent chartered airplanes carrying much-needed anti-Ebola supplies to Africa and provided 750 million yuan ($119 million) in cash and supplies to fight the disease. It also constructed mobile biological safety laboratories and sent medical experts who cured over 900 Ebola patients and trained 13,000 medical workers in the three worst-hit African countries.

With more than a year's concerted efforts, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have achieved a decisive victory in the fight against Ebola. The focus of the three is economic and social reconstruction in the post-Ebola era. Wang said China stands firmly with African people not only in the campaign against Ebola, but also in post-Ebola reconstruction.

Only with a complete and strong public health system can Africa deal with public health crises such as Ebola in an efficient manner in the future. China and Africa will launch a long-term cooperation in public health. For instance, China will help establish a tropical diseases treatment and research center in West Africa, and launch joint research on infectious diseases prevention and treatment in Central Africa. More Chinese medical workers will be sent to West African countries. In addition, China will provide more medical scholarships for students from West African countries, strengthen bilateral technical cooperation, provide training for public health, epidemic prevention and control, and preferentially implement public health demonstration projects.

Reducing poverty

Poverty is regarded as the root of the diseases raging through Africa. Although in recent years, development in Africa has been good, nearly half of the population still live below the extreme poverty line - living on less than $1.25 a day.

Poor economic condition has generated severe problems, such as an inadequate medical system, the absence of a system to prevent and control infectious diseases, outdated medical equipment and poor sanitation. Besides, due to insufficient clean water supply and low levels of education, it's very hard to eradicate the prevalent infectious diseases. Once an epidemic breaks out in Africa, it is difficult to get it under control in a timely effective manner.

To prevent Ebola and other epidemics from breaking out again in Africa, it is essential to reduce poverty and find an efficient approach to development. During Wang's visit, he indicated China is willing to share its development experience with African countries and strengthen cooperation in building infrastructure, industrialization, agricultural development, mining and human resource training to help African countries reduce their poverty.

In Guinea, Wang also said China will help build three independent development systems in industry, food security and epidemic prevention and control to resolve employment, food, and health problems respectively. These three independent development systems will serve not only Guinea, but the entire African continent.

For the three worst Ebola-hit West African countries, Wang pointed out that the burning problems were the scarcity of infrastructure and human resources. During his visit to Africa last year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had proposed solutions to these problems. He vowed that China will help build a high-speed railway network, an expressway network and regional aviation transportation network so that Africa can make use of its rich natural resources to improve its economy. China will also meet the goal of providing government scholarships to 18,000 African students and training 30,000 professionals from African countries as agreed upon. Till date, the Chinese Government has provided Africa assistance to the tune of $10 million through the International Monetary Fund to improve the skills of African laborers.

While diseases are ruthless, love can cross boundaries. When Ebola broke out, China fought the battle side by side with Africa. Now, China will join hands with Africa in post-Ebola cooperation.