Cape Town - Africa’s public health and medical services are getting a boost with China and the continent’s governments strengthening a co-operation agreement that will see teams of clinical specialists visiting 40 countries to provide help and training on the continent.
The 2nd Ministerial Forum on China-Africa Health Development held in Cape Town on Tuesday reaffirmed the co-operation agreement originally reached during a summit in Beijing in 2013.
South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday called on the Chinese government to share its expertise in technology and innovation with Africa to help build durable health systems in the continent and combat poverty, during his speech as host of the gathering.
Motsoaledi said the partnership between the two countries should recognise the importance of knowledge-sharing as a means of empowering one another.
Both sides adopted a framework charting the course of co-operation over the next three years under the theme of “Promoting the access of healthcare service in Africa, improving China-Africa’s co-operation in public health in post-Ebola era”.
It focused on public health, human resources development co-operation, the creation of infrastructure, laboratory services, communication and information sharing, access to medical services, short medical missions, co-operation between medical institutions, co-operation in traditional medicine and improving Africa’s access to medical products.
The Chinese would continue to send medical teams to work in African countries, and recruit medical staff.
They would also take new measures to organise short-term specialist medical teams to 40 African countries and work with their
African counterparts to provide specific training and medical services, such as free cataract surgery, in those countries.
The Chinese also agreed to continue to provide scholarships and training courses to public health professionals in Africa.
African countries, in turn, agreed to support the recruitment process and ensure that qualified candidates are identified and retained.
African countries welcomed China’s offer to send public health professionals to work with their African counterparts, and pledged to extend the necessary courtesies and support to them.
Tuesday’s Ministerial Forum on China-Africa Health Development brought together more than 30 African health ministers, Chinese officials and heads of international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank to discuss the future of China-Africa health co-operation.
In the agreement they dubbed the Cape Town Declaration, which follows on the Beijing Declaration of 2013, the ministers “reaffirmed” the decision of the 1st Ministerial Forum to formally include the Health Development Forum as a sub-forum of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation, the group said in a statement. In terms of the declaration, all signatories considered that health should be an intrinsic part of sustainable development.
The health collaboration should be guided by African countries’ action programmes and strategies, WHO action programmes, the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The signatories emphasised the need to take action against non-communicable diseases, preventable communicable and emerging diseases such as the Ebola virus disease (EVD), HIV/Aids, TB and malaria.
They agreed it was essential to draw lessons from the EVD outbreak and the global response, recognising that China was among the first to deliver EVD emergency support to the affected countries.
In addition to financial support, this included the provision of medical materials, mobile and fixed bio-safety labs, vehicles, training courses and food.
China also dispatched medical professionals, lab technicians and public health specialists to affected areas.
Some African countries also provided support to EVD-affected countries in the form of human resources, materials, labs, logistical support and humanitarian relief.
The focus of the China-Africa health collaboration was saving lives and improving the well-being of people, the declaration stated.
Motsoaledi added that the sharing of knowledge and technology was in line with the AU’s decision to develop a pharmaceutical manufacturing plan for Africa.
“In this regard the forum should come up with practical modalities to establish a China-Africa mechanism that truly enhances knowledge and technology transfer,” he said.
The Ministerial Forum is aimed at increasing global awareness of China and Africa’s joint efforts to address pressing health issues on the African continent.
Speaking of the Ebola virus, Motsoaledi said while progress had been made in bringing the virus under control, health institutional frameworks and capacity still remained fragile.
“We cannot relent in our fight against it. Hence, continuing with the spirit of solidarity and mutual trust, an important moment is upon both China and Africa to institute resilient recovery and reconstruction mechanisms to ensure that Africa is able to respond to future health risks and threats health security,” he said.
While achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) dramatically reduced the burden of disease, Motsoaledi said most of the countries still faced several challenges that needed to be addressed.
These included weak health-system performance, insufficient investment in the health sector, inefficient use of existing resources and weak monitoring and evaluation capabilities.
“There is therefore no argument about the importance of primary health care, as well as the key inputs to a strong health system. What is required is action,” he said.
Cape Argus