BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- 2014, at least to a painfully great many, will be remembered as the Year of Ebola, particularly given that a 7,500-strong death toll may just be an underestimate.

The outbreak, the biggest and most complex since the virus was first discovered in 1976, has posed a health threat to all mankind. But it is West Africa that has been inflicted with the lion's share of the ordeal.

The latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO), released Wednesday, show that the virus has killed 7,588 people worldwide out of 19,497 confirmed cases, with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone being the hardest-hit.

The number is staggering, but one may take some comfort from the fact that it could have been much higher should the international community have not stood up and joined the fight.

A strong and steady helping hand comes from China, which has been by Africa's side since the onset of the Ebola fight. When Ebola just broke out in April, Beijing immediately offered emergency relief to the three West African countries.

With the situation turning worse, China, based on the needs of the affected African countries, has provided four rounds of assistance totaling 122 million U.S. dollars.

In addition to supplies and cash, China has also dispatched precious human resources to the frontline. Currently, some 500 Chinese medical professionals are working on epidemic prevention and relief in the Ebola-hit African countries.

They are just part of the over 20,000 health workers China has sent to Africa over the past half century, who have saved and treated hundreds of millions of people in 51 countries and regions.

Those facts and figures stand as an exemplary embodiment of and an eloquent testimony to the time-honored bond between China and Africa, which, just as Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, have always been a community of shared destiny.

They also give the lie to allegations by some Western media that China is pursuing neocolonialism in Africa. The two sides have been treating each other equally and sharing weal and woe for decades, and China's commitment to win-win cooperation with Africa is never just lip service.

China benefits from a healthy and wealthy Africa, so does the whole world. Yet as the Ebola ordeal has demonstrated, the international community needs to do more to help the land of hope stay on track to safety and prosperity.