The members of the 19th Chinese medical team to the Central African Republic recently wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping, telling him how they provided medical services to local people.
On 9 February, in his reply, Xi praised the medical personnel for overcoming difficulties in work and life while providing services for local people, saying that they are not only saving lives, but also building friendship. Xi called on the medical personnel to use their medical proficiency and ethics to benefit local people, and to better present China to the world through their concrete actions, thus making greater contributions to the building of a global community of health for all. Xi always emphasises the importance of medical and health cooperation between China and Africa. Edited excerpts of Xi’s speeches on this topic follow:
Facing the virus, we should show concern for and accommodate the needs of developing countries, especially African countries. The international community needs to take timely and robust measures in such fields as debt relief and international assistance.
Excerpts from Xi’s speech at the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September 2020
Hao Yabo (right), a member of the 19th Chinese medical team to the Central African Republic, performs acupuncture therapy to a patient at a hospital in the country’s capital Bangui on 13 February
To help the African Union achieve its goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the African population by 2022, China will provide another 1 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.
Excerpts from Xi’s speech at the opening ceremony of Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Senegal on 29 November 2021
In the face of COVID-19, China and Africa have o ered mutual support and fought shoulder to shoulder with each other. China shall always remember the invaluable support Africa gave us at the height of our battle with the coronavirus. In return, when Africa was struck by the virus, China was the first to rush in with assistance and has since stood firm with the African people.
Excerpts from Xi’s speech at the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19 via video link from Beijing on 17 June 2020
China has decided to upgrade 50 medical and health aid programmes for Africa, particularly flagship projects such as the Headquarters of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and China-Africa Friendship Hospitals. Exchange and information cooperation will be carried out on public health. Cooperation programmes will be launched on the prevention and control of emerging and re-emerging communicable diseases, schistosomiasis, HIV/AIDS and malaria.
Excerpts from Xi’s speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC in Beijing on 3 September 2018
