Ebola crisis: Chinese aid, experts reach Africa
August 11, 2014, 5:21 am

China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced aid worth 30 million yuan ($4.9 million) to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as they try to control an outbreak which the WHO warns could continue for months [Xinhua]

China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced aid worth 30 million yuan ($4.9 million) to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as they try to control an outbreak which the WHO warns could continue for months.

China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) is also sending medical supplies to the three countries.

Chinese experts will help train local medical workers and assist Chinese embassies in these countries to distribute medical supplies.

Humanitarian aid was dispatched from Shanghai on Sunday afternoon, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Sun Jiwen was quoted by local media reports.

Each medical team will be composed of one epidemiologist and two specialists in disinfection and protection from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and other institutions.

“The West African nations, lacking medicines and disease prevention knowledge, are in urgent need of material support and expertise as the epidemic has not yet been controlled,” said Wang Yu, head of China CDC.

The materials mainly include medical protective clothes, disinfectants, thermo-detectors and medicines, Sun said.

This is the second batch of Ebola relief from China. In May, the country sent its first batch of relief goods to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, valued at one million yuan for each country.

Meanwhile, China’s CCTV reported on Sunday that a man receiving treatment under quarantine in a local hospital in Hong Kong could be suffering from Ebola, although further details are awaited.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola epidemic as an “extraordinary event” and an international health risk.

The virus has killed almost 1,000 people so far in four African nations.

Ebola is an incurable disease with a 60 to  90 per cent fatality rate. Symptoms first include headaches, severe fever, throat and muscle pains. This is followed by vomiting and diarrhea. The virus spreads from animals to humans and infection can quickly spread through contact with bodily fluids – even sweat.

TBP and Agencies