Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday said China had provided billions of doses of artemisinin medicines for developing countries in its international anti-malarial assistance.
Wang at the International Forum on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Artemisinin and on Building a Global Community of Health for All in Beijing said China has also trained thousands of professionals at the end of 2021.
He added that China had assisted in the construction of malaria prevention and control centres for 30 countries, and sent 28,000 medical team members to 72 developing countries.
According to the World Health Organisation, in sub-Saharan Africa alone, about 240 million people have benefited from the artemisinin-based combination therapy, Wang added.
Artemisinin, an effective cure for malaria, was first discovered and successfully extracted by China and had played an instrumental role in eliminating the disease in China since its discovery 50 years ago.
Wang called on all countries in the world to put aside their differences, unite and join hands to build a community of human health, and be committed to eliminating major infectious diseases such as malaria.
He called for jointly efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the international health governance system.