The China-aided Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) headquarters serves as an important platform for African countries to contain diseases in a well-coordinated manner, a senior African Union (AU) Commission official said.

AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment Josefa Sacko said that with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa saw the vulnerability of its health sector and the need for having a continental disease prevention and control center.

"With this big center here for disease control, it means that we want to gain our own responsibility, our own program," Sacko said in an interview on the sidelines of the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly held on February 18 and 19 at the headquarters of the AU in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The AU commissioner said the Africa CDC headquarters project would help strengthen the capacity and capability of Africa's public health institutions and African doctors, besides manufacturing African-made medicines.

"So it is a very good thing. We are going to solve the problem instead of going and importing medicines; we can as well use our own medicines," Sacko said.

Speaking about the partnership between China and Africa, the commissioner said the cooperation between the two sides is expanding over time with China having offered the African Union headquarters complex and now the Africa CDC buildings to the continent.

"When we enter here (the African Union headquarters), we are proud of the facilities. When you go to (Africa) CDC today, there you have a big facility with a lot of labs. That is what we need," she said.

According to the AU, the new Africa CDC headquarters is expected to become one of the best-equipped centers for disease control in Africa, allowing Africa CDC to play its role as the technical institution coordinating disease prevention, surveillance and control in the continent in partnership with the national public health institutes and ministries of health of AU member states.

Since China sent out its first medical team to Africa in 1963, China has exerted all means to assist Africa, including building medical institutions, providing medicines and medical devices, organizing training sessions, and offering scholarships to assist Africa's health infrastructure building, capacity building and talent training.

Also on the sidelines of the assembly, the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Director-General of the African Risk Capacity Group (ARC) Ibrahima Cheikh Diong noted that the ARC Group is cooperating with China and China's experience in dealing with climate change will be of great benefit to Africa.

China can provide technical assistance and support African countries in climate-related capacity building, the UN official said, adding that Africa is looking forward to developing a strategic partnership based on win-win cooperation with China.

(With input from Xinhua)