The year 2023 marks the 60th anniversary since China sent its first medical team abroad.

Chinese medical teams are working at 115 sites in 56 countries around the world, of which nearly half are in remote areas with harsh conditions. 

On Thursday, in a letter replying to the 19th Chinese medical team dispatched to the Central African Republic, Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged the 11 members of the team to benefit local people with their medical proficiency and medical ethics so as to make greater contributions to the building of a global community of health for all.

The team, which set off on June 11, 2022, to carry out medical aid for 18 months, had written to Xi to report on how they had served local people there. 

The Chinese people love peace and cherish lives, which is vividly illustrated by their efforts in international medical assistance, Xi said in the letter. 

'A global community of health for all'

In March 2020, President Xi first proposed the concept of building a global community of health for all, setting the tone of China's foreign medical aid in the new era.

Against the backdrop of uneven development in the developing world and threats from health crises, some countries and regions short of medical resources are in need of assistance and rescue from the international community. 

Over the past six decades, from the fight against the Ebola virus and COVID-19 to the prevention and control of yellow fever, plague, and Zika, Chinese medical teams have taken active actions to help local people in recipient countries to improve the level of diagnosis and treatment and public health management.

China has sent medical teams consisting of 30,000 members to 76 countries and regions across five continents – Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania, providing 290 million diagnoses and treatments for local people.

On February 8, Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi received China's 32nd medical team to Zanzibar at the Zanzibar State House, according to the Chinese Consulate General in Zanzibar.

Mwinyi affirmed the contributions the 32nd Chinese medical team has made in Zanzibar in four months – including treating patients and saving lives in the hospitals, carrying out free clinics in remote areas, providing medicines and equipment assistance, bringing advanced laparoscopic and endoscopic minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment technologies, and training local medical staff.

Zhao Xiaojun, leader of the medical team, said that they will carry forward the spirit of the Chinese medical team and continue to improve the health and well-being of the Zanzibar people, and contribute to China-Zanzibar friendship.