Beijing Hosts Closing Ceremony of Experience-Sharing Workshop on the Patriotic Health Campaign for African Countries

On the afternoon of August 17, the closing ceremony of the “Experience-Sharing Workshop on the Patriotic Health Campaign for African Countries” was held in Beijing. The workshop was organized by China CDC (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention), with Weihai CDC as a co-organizer. Zhou Yuhui, Deputy Party Secretary of China CDC, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. Health officials and technical personnel from African countries participated in the closing ceremony. Mr. Karim Darboe, Chief Public Health Officer of the Western Region II Health Directorate, Ministry of Health of The Gambia, delivered a speech on behalf of the participants. The ceremony was presided over by Xu Zhen, Deputy Director of the Center for Global Public Health.

In his address, Deputy Party Secretary Zhou Yuhui extended warm congratulations to all the African participants on their successful completion of the program, and presented them with certificates of completion following his remarks. He noted that the Patriotic Health Campaign is an important practice in China’s public health endeavors, with its core tenets being government leadership, multi-sectoral collaboration, and mass participation. Over the past week, participants systematically learned practical experiences in cross-sectoral coordination, comprehensive environmental management, water purification and sewage treatment, community health promotion, and ecological restoration of abandoned mine pits through lectures, field visits, and symposiums in Beijing and Weihai. He expressed the hope that participants would take home suitable concepts and methods to contribute to improving their countries’ environmental sanitation governance and disease prevention and control capacity. He also hoped that this training program would serve as a starting point for continuously deepening China-Africa public health cooperation.

In his address, Mr. Karim Darboe, on behalf of all participants, expressed sincere gratitude to the Chinese government and the Chinese people for their warm hospitality and thoughtful arrangements. He stated that this workshop not only enabled the participants to gain an in-depth understanding of China’s rich experience in public health, disease prevention and control, environmental health, community mobilization, and health promotion, but also profoundly inspired them: development depends not only on infrastructure and technology, but even more importantly on unity, discipline, and broad community participation. On behalf of all participants, he pledged to turn the knowledge and experience gained in China into action upon returning home, and to contribute to the development of their own countries’ public health systems.

The workshop lasted seven days, during which senior experts and scholars from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Health Commission, Tsinghua University, and China CDC delivered thematic lectures and facilitated seminars and exchanges. Hands-on training and field visits were conducted in both Beijing and Weihai, focusing on the historical evolution of the Patriotic Health Campaign, cross-sectoral collaboration mechanisms, comprehensive urban-rural environmental management, and grassroots community health promotion.