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E-mail Xinhua, March 14, 2025
DAR ES SALAAM, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Tanzania's Zanzibari authorities have opened a new chapter of health cooperation after launching the second phase of the China-aided schistosomiasis control pilot project on Unguja Island.
On Thursday, the project was launched on Unguja Island in the presence of various dignitaries, including senior Zanzibar government officials, the World Health Organization representatives, and Chinese schistosomiasis control experts, following its successful implementation on Pemba Island.
Hassan Khamis Hafidh, Zanzibar's deputy minister of health, said the pilot project on Unguja Island will integrate China's experience in schistosomiasis prevention and control as well as comprehensively improve the local schistosomiasis prevention and control capabilities through a model that combines environmental governance with medical intervention.
Li Qianghua, consul general of the Chinese Consulate General in Zanzibar, said the project has achieved great success on Pemba Island, and Chinese experts will cooperate with the Zanzibari side to ensure the success of the project and help local communities achieve the goal of eliminating schistosomiasis.
Li noted that since China sent the first medical team to Zanzibar in 1964, the two sides have always practiced the cooperation concept of "truth, reality, affinity and sincerity." To date, 682 medical experts have treated more than 2 million patients in the Zanzibar Archipelago.
Yang Kun, director of the schistosomiasis control project, said after the unremitting efforts of the experts in assisting with schistosomiasis control, the incidence of schistosomiasis in the demonstration area of the first phase of the project has dropped from 8.92 percent to the current 0.64 percent.
As for the pilot work on Unguja Island, Yang said the project team plans to carry out a two-week systematic training of health technicians immediately after the launch meeting and simultaneously complete the laboratory equipment debugging and material allocation work.
Saleh Juma, director of the Neglected Tropical Diseases Office in Pemba, said after years of cooperation, he was convinced that China's schistosomiasis control experience is very practical in Zanzibar. Enditem
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