ADDIS ABABA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China should be used as a role model for malaria elimination by African countries to eradicate the disease from the continent, an Ethiopian health expert has suggested.
China's anti-malaria campaign can be implemented in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia successfully, taking into account the similarity in topography, varying altitude, and the diverse population between the two countries, said Eyob Beyene, assistant professor of medicine at Addis Ababa University.
"China can serve as a role model to eliminate malaria in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. China can also help us to eliminate the disease by adapting best practices," Beyene told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Beyene said China's assistance to Ethiopia in fighting malaria has expanded through time since the Chinese government dispatched its first medical team to assist the East African nation more than 40 years ago.
According to the health expert, China's cooperation with Ethiopia to combat the disease includes sending Chinese medical teams, conducting personnel training and building of Malaria Prevention and Treatment Center in the city of Adama, some 100 km southeast of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
"There is a long-standing relationship between China and Ethiopia in malaria elimination with the Chinese medical professionals having been working in Ethiopia for more than 40 years. Currently, there is an upsurge in malaria infections in Ethiopia and hence the collaboration should further be strengthened. Hopefully, China will help eliminate malaria from Ethiopia," he said.
Appreciating the Chinese government for building Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Beyene explained the significance of the China-assisted Malaria Prevention and Treatment Center to Ethiopia's journey to eliminate malaria.
"The center will help to study the mosquitoes, the drugs for malaria and also the different medications and chemicals which are useful for malaria control. So this center is a big asset to study malaria," Beyene said.
Speaking to journalists Monday ahead of the World Malaria Day which fell on Tuesday for the 16th time, Ethiopian State Minister of Health Dereje Duguma said Ethiopia has seen an increasing number of new cases of malaria infections over the past two years.
More than 2.3 million new infections of malaria were reported in the country during the past year, the state minister said. He attributed the increase to climate change, drought and the two-year conflict which caused the malfunctioning of several health centers in the northern part of the country.
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