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Thursday, August 15, 2013

China plans to improve the health services it provides in Africa and expand its medical aid there, according to the International Cooperation unit at China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission.

“We will expand medical aid in Africa, although there are many challenges,” Ren Minghui, director general of International Cooperation at China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, tellsSciDev.Net.

Further collaboration will be discussed at the Ministerial Forum on China-Africa Health Cooperation in Beijing later this week (16 August).

Ren says he will make changes so that more African patients can be treated, and will also improve the quality of the Chinese researchers in medical teams that go to Africa.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Chinese medical team arriving in Africa. There are more than 1,000 medical researchers providing health services in 42 African countries.

The Chinese government has spent about US$4.9 million on building 30 modern hospitals in Africa. It has also set up more than 30 anti-malaria centres in Africa and spent another US$81 million on medical and anti-malaria equipment.