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Wang Yi Attends the International Forum on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Artemisinin and on Building a Global Community of Health for All

2022-04-25 23:55

On April 25, 2022, when attending the International Forum on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Artemisinin and on Building a Global Community of Health for All, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi read President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter to the forum and delivered a speech.

Wang Yi said, 50 years ago, Chinese scientists represented by Tu Youyou took the lead in discovering and successfully extracting artemisinin by unremitting efforts, creating a new method of malaria treatment and significantly reducing the mortality rate of malaria patients. President Xi Jinping specially sent a congratulatory letter, which demonstrates Chinese leaders' lofty vision of bearing in mind the well-being of the world, and reflects the Chinese government's value orientation of putting people first. The congratulatory letter is highly relevant in guiding the building of a global community of health for all.

Wang Yi pointed out, while successfully eliminating malaria within its borders, China also extended a helping hand to the world and launched large-scale international anti-malaria assistance with artemisinin at the core. By the end of 2021, China had provided billions of doses of artemisinin medicines, trained tens of thousands of anti-malaria professionals for developing countries, assisted in the construction of malaria prevention and treatment centers for 30 countries, and sent 28,000 medical team members to 72 developing countries for malaria prevention and treatment by widely using artemisinin drugs and therapies. Over the past half century, China's anti-malaria assistance has made great achievements. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in sub-Saharan Africa alone, about 240 million people have benefited from artemisinin-based combination therapies.

Wang Yi said, whether in the face of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or the Ebola epidemic, the Chinese people have always stood with people from all over the world. Especially in the face of the once-in-a-century COVID-19 pandemic, China has launched the largest emergency humanitarian operation. Up to now, China has provided hundreds of billions of anti-pandemic supplies to 153 countries and 15 international organizations, and 2.2 billion doses of vaccine to more than 120 countries and international organizations.

Wang Yi stressed, President Xi Jinping pointed out that strong confidence and cooperation represent the only right way to defeat the pandemic. We call on all countries in the world to put aside their differences, get united and work together to build a global community of health for all. We should make unremitting efforts to eliminate major infectious diseases such as malaria; stick together to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic globally; improve the international health governance system with the future in mind.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh, and WHO Deputy Director-General Zsuzsanna Jakab send congratulatory video clips to the forum respectively.

Ms. Tu Youyou, a Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine, introduced the significance of artemisinin in helping the global campaign against malaria in a video.

During the forum, Resident Coordinator of the UN Development System in China Siddharth Chatterjee, diplomatic envoys of participating countries to China, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) Luo Zhaohui, Vice Chairman of the CIDCA Deng Boqing, Vice-Minister of the National Health Commission (NHC) Yu Xuejun, head of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine(NATCM)Yu Wenming, and others visited the exhibition on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Artemisinin and on Building a Global Community of Health for All.

This forum was co-hosted by the CIDCA, the NHC and the NATCM. Representatives from relevant Chinese government departments, diplomatic envoys of relevant countries to China, representatives of international organizations in China, and representatives from relevant enterprises and scientific and research institutions attended the forum.

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