By Senior Reporter, China Africa News
Addis Ababa-A three-week training course has commenced in Addis Ababa, bringing together a cohort of 30 health experts from 16 African countries at the headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). In his inaugural speech, the head of the Chinese Mission to the African Union, Jiang Feng, underscored that China-Africa public health cooperation “demonstrates our active participation in global governance and the practice of multilateralism we must rely on the collective wisdom and strength of the Chinese and African people to build up the public health system.”
Organised jointly by the Africa CDC and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), the workshop places strong emphasis on four major key areas: laboratory detection and genomics sequencing; accurate pathogen identification; monitoring and analysis of drug resistance; and standardised protocols for laboratory quality management.
The expected outcomes from the training include strengthening African public health systems’ ability to detect and sequence infectious agents quickly and accurately, monitor drug resistance trends, implement internationally aligned quality assurance systems in laboratories and ultimately reduce reliance on external assistance during outbreak responses.
China and Africa are building a resilient collaboration: beyond such workshops and infrastructural support for example the China-aided Africa CDC headquarters the two sides are moving toward shared surveillance networks, early-warning systems, big-data analytics platforms and expert exchange programmes.This partnership is underpinned by the concept of a “community of health for all”.
