Africa CDC commends Chinese support on COVID-19 fight

ADDIS ABABA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese medical experts are helping African countries to manage COVID-19 outbreak, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.

Speaking to press on Thursday, John Nkengasong, Africa CDC Director, said medical experts from 32 African countries recently held a webinar with Chinese counterparts on how to better handle the COVID-19 outbreak in the continent.

"We recently held a special webinar involving 32 African Union (AU) member states with Chinese experts to discuss case management of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan and traditional Chinese medicine as an alternative treatment to COVID-19," said Nkengasong.

"In the past week, Africa CDC held the ninth weekly seminar on clinical community of practice involving 312 active participants to discuss current treatment approaches to COVID-19," said Nkengasong.

There are nearly 1,000 Chinese medical experts working in Africa long-term, according to China's National Health Commission.

Over decades, Chinese medical teams in Africa have established a solid reputation for applying traditional Chinese medicine therapy to treat diseases, many of which are chronic and difficult.

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the African continent, the Chinese anti-pandemic medical experts dispatched by the Chinese government have greatly helped Africa in confronting the pandemic.

Speaking to journalists recently, Benjamin Djoudalbaye, head of the division policy, health diplomacy and communications at Africa CDC, said Chinese assistance to Africa in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic has been crucial to contain the danger posed by the disease.

"The successful COVID-19 experience from China has been an inspiration to us," said Djoudalbaye.

"China together with the Jack Ma foundation has organized webinars for African medical professionals on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in various scenarios including in emergency set up, as well as experience sharing on field medical treatment and Intensive Care Unit treatment,"said Djoudalbaye.

Djoudalbaye also said webinars on COVID-19 prevention and control of COVID-19 outbreaks have been facilitated by the Chinese government and the Jack Ma foundation.

The Africa CDC is also launching mobile health platforms, with major development partners like China expected to assist in the development of the platform.

Development partners like China are expected to boost the capacity of the Africa CDC mobile health platforms through knowledge sharing and training of African health care workers.

Djoudalbaye further commended the donation of COVID-19 medical supplies by China and the Jack Ma foundation, including through the supply of Personal Protective Equipments, face masks, gloves and testing kits.

In April, the Africa CDC received several rounds of medical equipment and supplies donated by China's Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation in support of the African continent's fight against the spread of COVID-19.

The Africa CDC in its latest situation update disclosed the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Africa has reached 73,176 on Thursday evening. Meanwhile, the death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the African continent reached 2,496.