Source: CCTV

Author: Professor Liu Hongwu, Changjiang Scholar, Director of Africa Research Institute of Zhejiang Normal University

Since February 2014, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed more than 7,500 lives. It was on the brink of spreading to the rest of the world, posing an international public health threat.

The Ebola virus can lead to severe hemorrhagic fever, of which most cases result in sudden death. There have been several outbreaks in Africa's history.

But this time, the virus is different in three ways: it is fiercer and it spreads quicker and wider. Previously, the epidemic was usually confined to certain tribal settlements in certain individual African countries, but this year it ravaged many countries in West Africa, and led to panic that it would spread out of Africa.

On August 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement declaring the Ebola outbreak in West Africa "an international public health emergency," adding that the epidemic might have been seriously underestimated. It called for the international community to provide emergency aid and improve worldwide prevention measures.

All kinds of plagues have long been a major threat to mankind. Globalization has led to high interdependence; the well-being of human kind has been integrated as a whole, so facing the epidemic in Africa, the international community must work together to cope with it.

China has actively supported Africa's development and helped to improve its security.

Continue to provide emergency humanitarian assistance: China should increase material assistance, send epidemic prevention and control experts, train local professionals based on organizations and service system, including Chinese medical teams, China-aided hospitals and anti-malaria centers in Africa.

Development of drugs and vaccines for prevention and treatment: China has accumulated experience in developing artemisinin to combat malaria; this experience could be used in the research and development of traditional Chinese medicines in fighting against the Ebola virus.

Promote China's successful experience in the fight against SARS and bird flu: China could publish handbooks in English and French on prevention epidemics and distribute them to the epidemic related agencies and the public.

Establish an international prevention and control fund: China has publicly announced a considerable donation to the special international fund for developing Ebola drugs and vaccines under the WHO. China can also set up its own special fund to promote international cooperation in research and development.

As well as providing urgent humanitarian assistance to help African countries fight the epidemic and working on its own precautions, China should introduce to Africa in an appropriate manner its experience in fighting against SARS and Wenchuan Earthquake Relief, especially its success in the national mobilization system and emergency response mechanism. The two sides could hold a Sino-African cooperation seminar on epidemic prevention and control and disaster relief so that think tanks, prevention experts, government officials from both sides could have in-depth discussions on administrating measures for the spread of epidemics, and establish long-term cooperation mechanism for epidemic prevention and control.