Beijing has stepped up public health assistance to its strategic African partner Djibouti – home to China’s only overseas military base – with a new focus on dengue fever and plans for the country’s first traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) centre.
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Djiboutian Health Minister Ahmed Robleh Abdilleh, a medical doctor and also a TCM advocate, has pledged to “serve as an ambassador for promoting the culture of Chinese traditional medicine”.
Abdilleh made the pledge during a meeting with the director of China’s National Health Commission in Beijing in early December, on the sidelines of an international conference on TCM sponsored by the World Health Organization.
China aims to train 1,300 overseas health workers in TCM over the next three years and has been encouraging more use of its therapies, which include acupuncture, massage and cupping, especially among its Belt and Road Initiative partners.
Mainland Chinese medical teams stationed in Djibouti have been helping the country with health issues for a number of years, in partnership with GX Foundation, a Hong Kong-based NGO.
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The NGO’s founder, Leung Chun-ying – a former chief executive of Hong Kong – and members of the mainland Chinese medical teams discussed the benefits of TCM at a reception last month with Abdilleh in Djibouti.