Ebola broke out in Guinea and other West African countries in March 2014. The Chinese government has so far offered four rounds of emergency aid worth about 750 million yuan in total.
- China sent a mobile biosafety lab to Sierra Leone - China helped Liberia build a treatment center with 100 beds
- China sent more than 20 specialist teams in public health, clinical medical and lab test fields to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to work with Chinese medical teams in Africa in fighting Ebola and raising Ebola response abilities. As of Jan 4, 2015, China has sent more than 600 medical personnel to Africa to help with local epidemic prevention and control work
- A total of 3,382 virus specimens were tested, 633 patients received treatment and 2,928 people received public health training.
What did the Chinese medical team do in West Africa?
Medical personnel:
They registered and observed patient’s basic conditions, as well as carried out triage for suspected cases and sterilized medical waste, based on lab results.
Testing team:
The team took blood samples to determine positive cases. The Chinese team also sterilized sample containers, repackaged them, labeled their date, and sent them to test room where team members numbered samples and sterilized and drew RNA from them. The tests usually took five consecutive hours, during which time, team members were prohibited from eating or drinking anything. The mobile biosafety third-level lab, independently developed by China, was sent to the China- Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital on Sept 25, 2014 and was the first of its kind that to help with screening the virus in the country. As of Jan 14, the Chinese medical team in Sierra Leone has tested 3,707 samples, including 1,380 positive cases, accounting for one fifth of all tests by the 13 international labs in Sierra Leone.
Expert team:
Every expert team consisted of an epidemiology expert and two sterilization and protection experts.
- Assisted the embassy in distributing aid
- Gave training to local professionals in correct use of aid materials
- Conducted professional training for the medical team
Public health training team:
The team cultivated 45 local trainers in Sierra Leone for roughly two months and delivered the most useful Ebola prevention and control knowledge and skills to nearly 5,000 people. China’s fight against SARS was added to the training to share experiences in early detection, reporting, diagnosis, quarantine and treatment. The training team also told local people the importance of nationwide mobilization in infectious diseases prevention and control.
During the development of the epidemic, the team gave training to additional personnel in varying fields and further differentiated their training curricula. In addition to medical staff, community managers and leaders, government officials, health workers, and volunteers; more than 2,700 households in three rural areas with serious epidemic situation received a 15-week-long intensive training, involving nearly 20,000 people. Training was also given to teachers to ensure campus and student safety.
he team will leave Sierra Leone in June 2015, but the training mission will continue. The team is now building a fixed biosafety lab and plans to send resident professionals in the future, leaving a comprehensive infectious disease prevention and control team in the country.
He Liehui, general representative of the Djibouti National Investment Promotion Agency, signed a strategic cooperative agreement with Zhang Jianxin, president of the Zhejiang Investment and Finance Association on Sept 29.
