A Chinese-Togolese health center was inaugurated here on Wednesday in an escalating fight against malaria in the West African country.
The China-Togo Center of Prevention and Treatment of Malaria was unveiled in a hospital in the capital city of Lome, with Togolese Health Minister Komlan Mally and Chinese Ambassador to Togo Yang Min attending the opening ceremony.
Ambassador Yang said the construction of the center is part of measures announced by the Chinese government at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006.
China attaches great importance to health cooperation with Togo, Yang said, adding that in the coming three years, the Chinese government will send an expert team to Togo every year with medicine and equipment.
The Togolese minister expressed gratitude to the Chinese government on behalf of President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe.
He said malaria kills a child every 30 seconds in the world with more than 90 percent of victims recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. In Togo, the disease claims the lives of four out of 10 children suffering from it, he added.
Chinese experts arrived in Togo in early December to exchange views with their Togolese counterparts on joint fight against malaria. They have also organized personnel training on prevention and treatment of the disease.
Mally also expressed appreciation for China's recent donation of medications and test equipment.
Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease. Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by female Anopheles mosquito.
Source: Xinhua
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