China-Africa Cooperation: Traditional Chinese acupuncture wins over patients in Rep. of Congo

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Beijing is gearing up to host another China-Africa Cooperation Summit in November. A declaration from the last one, in 2015, says China and Africa should do more work in health care. But ties in these sectors actually stretch back more than five decades. CGTN's Tang Bo went to the Republic of Congo to find out how traditional Chinese medicine treatments have been received by locals.

A traditional Chinese therapy fleshed out on an African patient. Performing the acupuncture, Huang Yue. He's one of two traditional Chinese medicine doctors with the Chinese medical team in the Republic of Congo. You could say he bears responsibility for saving lives in this underdeveloped country. He's also here to spread knowledge of the oriental medical practice.

HUANG YUE, TCM DOCTOR CHINESE MEDICAL TEAM IN REP. OF CONGO "We organized several free clinics last year, right after we arrived in the country. We found out that many people who came to the clinics had neck and spine problems. So we introduced the acupuncture treatment to them."

After the free clinics, many of the patients continued to receive acupuncture treatment. But they all had had acupuncture before or knew Chinese culture well.

LEBOA CHARLES, PATIENT "I once had acupuncture treatment back in 1989, and it went very well. Two years ago I was referred by a local hospital for lumbar disc surgery, but I said no. Instead, I turned to acupuncture treatment here, which again healed my spine problem."

Traditional Chinese medicine is built on a foundation of more than 25-hundred years of medical practice. It includes various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, exercise, and dietary therapy.

Huang has been helping more local people understand how traditional therapies work. He's happy to see that most people don't reject the approach.

HUANG YUE, TCM DOCTOR CHINESE MEDICAL TEAM IN REP. OF CONGO "I found may locals go to China to study traditional Chinese medicine practice. It's a choice they made after having a deeper and better understanding of the medical system."

TANG BO BRAZZAVILLE "Acupuncture treatments used to be something new to the African continent. Now there has been an increasing number of African patients who have accepted and received the traditional Chinese medical therapy. That highlights a new development of over 5-decade long China-Africa medical cooperation."

China sent its first medical team to Africa in 1963. Since then, it has sent medical teams to 45 African countries on over 20-thousand trips. The teams have provided 220 million people with medical services.

Traditional Chinese medicine treatment is becoming one of this teams' distinguishing features. Compared to western medical therapies, the Chinese ones have their own advantages, especially in places where there aren't enough medicine or medical devices.

WANG ZHIYONG, CHIEF CHINESE MEDICAL TEAM, REP. OF CONGO "One big advantage of traditional Chinese medicine is that it is easy to perform, and it doesn't have high requirements for medical equipment. Take acupuncture and sticking-plaster for example. They are easy to conduct or use. And it's cheap."

Now a new hospital built by China has provided the medical team, local medical personnel, and local patients with a much better working and treatment environment. That has attracted more people, which in turn gives traditional Chinese medicine more chances to be understood and accepted by the local residents.

Huang hopes acupuncture can serve as a stepping stone, a necessary first step to full recognition of traditional Chinese medicine in Africa. Tang Bo, CGTN, Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo.