Chinese doctors in Eritrea, northeast Africa in May 2023. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first Chinese medical team sent to Algeria in 1963. Since then, countless heartfelt stories about Chinese medical personnel have surfaced, showcasing their significant contributions to global public health and the well-being of people worldwide.

Over the past six decades, China has dispatched over 30,000 medical personnel to 76 countries and regions across the world, providing medical services to nearly 300 million patients.

Statistics revealed that Chinese medical teams dispatched abroad had trained over 100,000 local medical personnel, significantly enhancing the healthcare expertise in recipient countries, as Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Kenyan journalist Jevans Nyabiage, the South China Morning Post's first Africa correspondent, China's support for African countries has expanded beyond sending thousands of healthcare workers to vital infrastructure, China-Africa health cooperation has also included funding for medicines and treatments as well as disease prevention.

Lina Benabdallah, a China-Africa specialist at Wake Forest University and a visiting fellow at the Centre for African Studies at Harvard University, said China's medical diplomacy served to enrich people-to-people engagement in a positive way.

"Chinese doctors and nurses provide important care for patients across the continent, including eye surgeries, baby deliveries, and so on," Benabdallah said, adding that traditional Chinese medicine had also been growing in popularity.

China-Africa expert David Shinn, from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, said that while China's programme of sending medical workers to African countries remained in place, there had also been an expansion in other aspects of healthcare.

According to Shinn, China's focus during the early part of the 21st century was on providing basic health personnel, before turning to include the building of healthcare infrastructure and, most recently, countering infectious diseases. "In recent years, China has devoted more attention to the treatment and elimination of infectious diseases such as malaria, Ebola, and Covid-19," he said.

According to AidData, a research lab at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, China delivered 1,026 health projects, totalling 1.6 billion USD, across 51 African countries between 2000 and 2017 alone. Most of the funds were spent on basic healthcare including medicines and vaccines, malaria control, and health infrastructure.

AidData senior researcher Ammar Malik said that unlike other donors, "China has been incredibly demand responsive since 2004," adding that "China discovered and now plays a significant role in supplying artemisinin-based combination therapies, now standard WHO treatment recommendations for malaria. China is a substantial supplier of long-lasting insecticidal nets."