China-Africa health cooperation can help more children survive, thrive: UNICEF

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Stronger health cooperation between China and Africa can help bring down child mortality and build better health systems on the continent, said George Laryea-Adjei, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) global director of programmes, in an interview with Xinhua.

Laryea-Adjei spoke on the occasion of the first China-Africa Public Health Forum, hosted in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The Sustainable Development Goals are always UNICEF's reference point, he said, noting one important marker is the under-five mortality rate. Thirty-six countries in the world have missed the mark in bringing it down, and 22 of them are in Africa, he noted.

He said the relationship between China and Africa on health, with a strong focus on working with institutions in Africa to reduce under-five mortality, is particularly important. "That should indeed be a top priority." The number of children who die before they are one month old is also particularly high in Africa, he added.

The answers to these problems are known, Laryea-Adjei said. They have been done all over the world, "a lot in China, and in some parts of Africa as well." He noted that China has gone this journey before and has quite strong systems in that area, and said there are conversations on how Africa could learn from China and other partners on improving surveillance and response.

The challenge, he said, is to bring in more capacity and attention, and to target the areas that carry a huge burden of both newborn and under-five mortality. He also pointed to outbreaks such as Ebola and dengue, as well as El Nino, which could bring more cases of malnutrition and related health conditions.

He said he expected the forum to look at specific opportunities and challenges, and at how to grow the partnership so that Africa has "a better system and the capacity to predict, to prepare and to respond immediately when an outbreak occurs."

Laryea-Adjei said China is working with some African countries, such as Ethiopia, Mozambique and Nigeria, on high-quality maternal and newborn care facilities, where people travel from rural areas across the country to receive care.

Trained health workers at the community level are another approach that works, he said, because "they are always there." Africa has a target of an additional two million community health workers, trained, equipped and deployed, who can become an important line of defence.

He also highlighted China's huge health insurance program. Every country may need to go on this journey of financing health coverage, facilities and health workers, he said, and of growing and deepening health insurance, especially to help households reduce out-of-pocket expenditure when a person is ill. "Health insurance is the way to go," he said.

On public health, he saw huge opportunities for growth in the partnership, citing diagnostics and early detection, which require good training, equipment, a good network of laboratories and protocols that get the job done.

Africa is also asking to expand local production, which could bring down prices and help countries manage their economies better. China is in a position to help and is already doing so, he said.

Laryea-Adjei also noted China's important role in training professionals in Africa and in staff exchange. He had visited the Africa CDC, which was built with a major contribution from China.

China is also an important partner of UNICEF and 15 African countries in improving how they deliver technical and vocational education and training (TVET). "If there is one thing Africa needs more of, it is TVET," he said, because of the way economies are structured there.

Looking ahead, Laryea-Adjei said both sides have room for bigger ambition.

South-South cooperation, he said, is an important vehicle for transferring knowledge and technology and building capacity, but also "for learning from each other and for friendship." He suggested deepening existing instruments such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to focus on the particular challenges facing children in Africa, adding that both sides have an interest in reducing under-five and newborn mortality.

Africa's median age is 19, according to Laryea-Adjei, who noted that China was at a similar stage a few decades ago. South-South cooperation, he said, can be very specific on how to invest in a very young population so that the dividend for the economy and social structure improves.

"It is about the lives of people," he said. "To us at UNICEF, it is about the life of a child." The child has to live, be healthy and thrive, go to school, play in a safe environment and be protected, "so as to learn and achieve their full potential."