Over 800 Chinese medical workers aid Zanzibar in six decades

NANJING -- Since 1964, when east China's Jiangsu Province dispatched its first medical team to Zanzibar in East Africa's Tanzania, 847 medical workers in 34 batches have provided diagnoses and treatments for some 8.3 million locals so far, according to the Jiangsu Commission of Health on Wednesday.

In the past 60 years, Jiangsu medical professionals have performed over 240,000 different kinds of surgeries and saved about 40,000 seriously ill patients in Zanzibar. Jiangsu also donated many medical imaging devices, such as MRI, CT and X-ray machines, to Zanzibar Mnazi Mmoja Hospital.

Since 2009, Jiangsu has also helped Zanzibar establish eight technical centers for laparoscopic surgery, cleft lip and palate surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, and maternal and infant treatment, with proven technologically advanced and effective medical treatments.

In Zanzibar, cervical cancer is the leading cancer among women of reproductive age. Since 2018, Jiangsu has launched a project on cervical cancer screening and sent seven teams of medical professionals to Zanzibar to conduct on-site screenings. The project's target of 32,000 screenings is estimated to be completed this year.

Over the years, Jiangsu's medical teams and experts have been at the forefront of combating regional diseases and major public health crises. From 2016 to 2019, the Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases led a three-year project to help control and eliminate Zanzibar schistosomiasis, helping reduce its morbidity rate from 8.92 percent to 0.64 percent within the project's demonstration area.

In August, Tanzania's Zanzibar authorities praised the Chinese aid project for the control of schistosomiasis, saying it has helped eliminate the disease in the Indian Ocean islands.

Currently, the Chinese medical teams in Zanzibar have shifted their focus from offering short-term aid to sharing their expertise and introducing the latest treatment methods to local doctors. The medical workers also guide them in conducting clinical diagnoses, examining patients, and interacting with patients more effectively.