Half a century devoted to saving lives

Shanghai is acting as a standard bearer for China in sending medical teams to Africa.

The municipality was represented when the first medical teams from China to Africa arrived in Algeria in 1963, and they have been present in teams sent to West Africa in recent weeks to tackle the Ebola outbreak.

African countries that receive medical help from Shanghai include Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Tanzania.

To date China has sent more than 20,000 medical personnel to almost every country on the continent and they have treated more than 200 million patients.

Dong Ming, chief physician, Division of International Cooperation, Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, says that apart from teams the municipality has sent it also leads in the number of medical and academic exchanges.

"In the number of medical experts it sends to Africa, Shanghai leads the way," Dong says. "We now have eight medical teams and 80 professionals in Morocco."

Over the past 50 years Shanghai medical professionals have provided Africans with cancer treatment, heart surgery, maternity services, eye treatment and limb replacements.

"Shanghai has provided the latest technology for treating eyes, enabling patients to see again," Dong said when a group of African journalists visited the municipal office.

The medical teams have also provided medical training, workshops and one-on-one consultations with local experts, he says.

"Sending Shanghai medics is a form of long-term cooperation with African countries."

In a recent ministerial meeting on medical cooperation, China and Africa agreed to continue collaborating on developing human resources and on academic and medical exchanges.

Other areas of collaboration are traditional Chinese medicine, joint laboratories and support in developing healthcare infrastructure.

The Shanghai health bureau has also set up a sister hospital collaboration between Africa and China.

Last month three disease control teams with emergency humanitarian aid supplies were dispatched to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to tackle the Ebola outbreak.

Each Ebola medical team will comprise of an epidemiologist and two specialists in disinfection and protection from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutions.

The experts will also help train local medical workers and help Chinese embassies distribute medical supplies.

Western African countries, lacking medicines and disease prevention knowledge, are in urgent need of material support and expertise to deal with the outbreak, the Chinese Centee for Disease Control and Prevention says.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/17/2014 page28)